Understanding the Courchevel Poker Game: What Makes It Unique

Courchevel is an Omaha poker variant where you see one of the three flop cards before placing your first bet. This makes your hands connect better with the board and enables you to make better folding decisions.

If you want to spice up your Omaha poker experience, you should definitely try Courchevel poker.

This guide covers how to play Courchevel poker, how it differs from Omaha, and strategies for playing the game.

What Is Courchevel Poker?

Courchevel Poker is a 5-card Omaha variant where you see one of the three flop cards before the pre-flop betting round begins.

It works in the same way as popular 5-card Omaha poker. For example, you need exactly 2 hole cards and 3 community cards to form a winning hand in both games.

However, a world of differences still exists between the two. And the table below shows how the two games compare against each other

➡️ 5 Card Omaha Vs Courchevel Poker

The major difference between the two games is the door card. This changes Courchevel’s poker structure, flow, and how you approach it.

✅ Courchevel Poker Origin

The game’s origin was a beautiful happenstance.

Sometimes in the late 1980s and 1990s, some visitors of the Courchevel Resort near the French Alps Ski wanted to play Omaha poker but didn’t know its rules.

In the end, they came up with a new game that would go on and spread across France and Italy thanks to the defunct Aviation Club de Paris.

Courchevel never caught on after the club folded.

As noted by the folks at BetMGM, it surfaced online in 2013 but has never appeared in WSOP or any popular poker tournament to date. You will rarely find it on any of the best poker sites, so you need to visit a live casino or set up your own home game to play it.

Types of Courchevel Poker

Courchevel Poker has three variations based on the bet size. These are:

• Fixed Limit Courchevel: This is a Courchevel poker game with a fixed maximum bet size, e.g., $ 5 per round.
• Pot Limit Courchevel: This is a Courchevel poker where the maximum bet is capped at the pot size. Courchevel is mostly played as a pot limit game.
• No Limit Courchevel: This is a Courchevel game where you can bet as many chips as you have on a go.

The Door Card in Courchevel Poker – The Rule That Changes Everything

The door or spit card is the first flop card that you see right after receiving your five hole cards.

It makes up 20% of the community cards that go into forming your winning hand. And even more importantly, it gives you more information to make better pre-flop betting decisions. 

For instance, in 5-card Omaha, you bet without knowing if your hand will connect with the board or not.

Courchevel poker closes this information gap a bit. You now see one of the flops and can tell how your hole cards connect with it.

How to Play Courchevel Poker

Courchevel poker follows the same steps as 5-card Omaha. The only difference is that one flop card is revealed before your first bet. Every other step, including all the betting rounds, is similar.

If you want to refresh your memory, here is a brief rundown on how to play Courchevel poker:

1️⃣ Step 1: Dealer Button and Blind Posting

The first step to playing Courchevel is appointing the dealer position. A nominal dealer button puts the player in this position to show that they’ll always act last. 

The next two players to the dealer’s left act as small and big blind. The blinds post half and full bets (e.g $2/$4) to build the pot size.

2️⃣ Step 2: Hole and Spit Card Distribution

After the blinds, the dealer shares 5 cards in a face-down position to everyone at the table.

Up next, the dealer places the door card face up on the board. Everyone can use it to form their winning combo.

3️⃣ Step 3: Betting Rounds

Courchevel poker comprises 4 betting rounds: 

• Pre-Flop: After your hole cards and first flop cards, you place your first round of bet. You can either fold, call, or raise.
• Flop: Next, the last 2 flop cards hit the board, and another betting round ensues.
• Turn: The dealer adds one more face-up card to the board, and players take turns betting again.
• River: Finally, the dealer adds the fifth and last community card to the board. This is followed by another betting round.

4️⃣ Step 4: Showdown

After the river betting round, all players still standing reveal their cards, and the best five-card hand wins.

If there is a tie, the pot is shared equally among the winners.

Courchevel Poker Hand Rankings

Courchevel uses the same poker hand ranking as Pot Limit Omaha and Texas Hold’em. 

That means the highest and best hand is Royal Flush, while high cards are the weakest. 

However, owing to five starting cards and the split card, the hand equities and odds of having a strong showdown hand are higher in Courchevel.

For example, sets, straights, and flushes are routine in Courchevel poker. You’ll often need a nut flush and straight, or better, to win.

To put that into perspective mathematically, every player has a 2.3% probability of flopping a set using the door card alone. In a standard 6-handed game, this means there is an 11.5% chance that at least one opponent at the table wakes up pre-flop already holding trips.

Because players can see this card early and calculate their exact straight wraps and nut flush potential with 20% of the board already revealed, speculative hands are filtered out immediately. This shifts the average winning hand strength massively upward compared to traditional community card games.

By the way, you can estimate the winning probabilities of any poker hand combo by yourself using our poker odds calculator.

Courchevel Hi-Lo Poker — The Split-Pot Variant

Just like Omaha Hi-Lo, Courchevel can also be played as a split pot. 

In Courchevel Hi-Lo, the prize pot is split into two. One half goes to the best high hand and the other half goes to the best low hand.

To qualify as a low hand, your highest card must be 8 or lower, and all cards must be unpaired. Of course, Ace is treated as a low card in Hi-Lo. And the best qualifying low hand in Courchevel Hi-Lo is A-2-3-4-5.

Apart from the split pot, Courchevel Hi-Lo follows the other rules of the standard game.

The door card dictates the hand that will be contested in Courchevel Hi-Lo. And you must pay more attention to it, especially if you’re coming from the Omaha world.

If the door card is 8 or lower, a low winning hand becomes more likely. However, if the door card is 9 or higher, high-winning hands become more promising, and players with high draws in their hole cards gain early confidence.

Whenever you play Courchevel Hi-Lo, go for a starting hand with the potential to win both halves of the pot (scoop) to maximize your winnings.

The Best Starting Hand In Courchevel Poker

Earlier, we mentioned that Courchevel winning hands differ from those of other Omaha variants. But that’s just half of the story. The premium starting hands also vary.

In Omaha and Texas Hold’em, a strong pair (A-A) is a great starting hand. However, a pair is weak in Courchevel if the remaining hole cards don’t connect with the door.

The golden rules I use in assessing my starting hand’s strength in Courchevel are:

• How well all my five hole cards connect 
• How the door connect with my hole cards

If all my hole cards and door cards combine to form various draws, then I take that as a good starting hand.

The premium starting hands in standard Courchevel and Hi-Lo are:

Beginner Tips for Playing Courchevel Poker

After playing several rounds of Courchevel poker, I’ve realized that it requires a completely different mindset and approach than Omaha poker.

Here are some hard-won lessons that will increase your winning chances when playing Courchevel poker:

✅ Read the Door Card Before Checking Your Hole Card

When I started playing Courchevel poker, I always read my hole cards first and neglected the door card. This wrecked my pre-flop decisions and made me keep hands that don’t connect with the rest of the board.

Nowadays, I consider my hole cards first, and my pre-flop decision has improved significantly.

For example, I once held A ❤ ️K ♣ 10 ♠ ️J ️♦️ Q♣️ on a 6♦️ pre-flop board. 

After reading my hole cards and finding out I had a straight, I rushed to open-raise without considering the door card. In the end, the rest of the community cards didn’t connect with my hole cards, and I lost the hand woefully.

If I had checked my door card first, I would have spotted the disconnection and folded early to preserve my bankroll.

This example leads straight to my second tip for playing poker in Courchevel.

✅ The 2-Hole Card Rule Governs Everything

Always remember that only 2 of your hole cards make up the winning hand.

Credit: Wazamba

So, if your hole cards are 6-7-8-9-10, that’s a 10-high hand at best and should not be confused for a straight.

Before making any decision, always reassess your cards from the 2-hole card + 3 community cards perspective to avoid misjudging your hand strength.

✅ Chase Nuts and Not Second Nuts Hands

With five hole cards and a door card, the chances of someone having a nut hand are very high in Courchevel poker.

When playing a game with 3 or more players, I always chase the best hand possible (Ace-King Straight, Ace-Queen Flush, etc) and not just a strong one to avoid being beaten by the nut.

When nuts are impossible, I fold my hand or take the risk and bet cheaply, knowing that someone out there might hold the best hand.

✅ Don’t Overplay Trips Before Flop Completes

In Courchevel poker, a pocket pair and a set on the spit is even more common.

What determines the strength of my set is how the remaining flop cards unfold. So, until I see the complete flop, I never overcommit to the pot.

The only exception to this rule is if my pair has strong backup (e.g., K❤️ K♠️ A❤️ J♠️ 9♣️) on a K❤️ board, which easily forms an Ace-high flush and straight. Thus, I can afford to bet high since I still have other strong draws if the set hits a brick.

✅ Size Bets According to Your Position

My poker position determines my level of aggression. 

When I’m under the gun (UTG) or in early position, I bet small and avoid open-raising, even if I have strong hands, to prevent re-pots from other players in late position. This allows me to gauge their hand strength without overcommitting to the pot.

In the late position, I can see other players’ bets and use that information to my advantage. If there are many callers before me, I take it as a sign of weak hands and bet aggressively even with marginal hands to force them to fold.

✅ Raise When You Have Blockers

Your blockers make it statistically impossible for your opponents to have nuts or the best hands.

If you notice your opponents only play premium hands, bet aggressively with your blocker to force them to fold.

In a live game, I held K❤️ Q❤️ J♦️ 10♦️ 9♣️ while the door card was A ❤ ️.

After combining my hand with the board, I discovered that I had two blockers to a premium heart flush and decided to bet aggressively from a late position.

With the remaining flop cards (2 ♣ ️and 5 ♠) being unhelpful, my opponents folded after the flop, which allowed me to take the pot before the showdown.

Expert Opinion

Christian Howells

Assistant Editor / Bingo & Casino Expert

A key difference between Courchevel and Omaha is how you go about a paired turn. In Omaha, you continue playing with caution if you have a strong straight or Flush draw. In Courchevel, the probability of someone hitting a quad or boat by the river on a paired board is pretty high. I have lost many hands and seen many players go broke for refusing to fold. Don’t hesitate to give up a straight on a paired board, especially if you see heavy betting from opponents after the pair.

My Personal Courchevel Poker Bankroll Rules

The five hole cards and door card give everyone a good head start, making it pretty easy to win or lose. This creates fast swings that can empty your pocket if you aren’t careful.

When I first started, I thought a small budget would last forever. I was wrong. After losing a big pot where I held top set with [Q❤️ Q♠️] [A❤️ K♣️] [J♠️] on a Q♣️ door card—only to watch a player hit a lucky straight on the river—I learned my lesson.

Here are the exact bankroll management strategies I use to protect my money:

• The 100-Buy-In Rule: If you have a total budget of $500, you should play at a micro-stakes table with blinds of $0.05/$0.10 and a typical buy-in of $5. This gives you 100 buy-ins, which is enough of a safety net to play without intimidation. Our bankroll calculator helps you determine the budget and bet size you need to play poker sustainably.
• The 3-Buy-In Hard Stop: If I sit down and lose three full buy-ins ($15), I get up and leave. Courchevel is high-action, and a bad beat can quickly make you want to chase your losses with bad cards.
• Drop Stakes Without Pride: If my $500 bankroll ever drops below 70 buy-ins ($350), I immediately move to a cheaper table if one is open or take a break.
• The 40% Cash-Out Rule: Every month, I have a winning streak, I take 40% of my profits out of my poker stash. Putting it into my regular bank account ensures that even if I hit a terrible losing streak next month, my real-world money stays safe.

Common Courchevel Poker Mistakes Beginners Make

I made a lot of mistakes when I started playing Courchevel, since the game was pretty nascent then and most of the advice was cookie-cutter. But you don’t have to repeat the same blunders.

These are some of the common poker mistakes that hurt me most when I started playing Courchevel, and tips to avoid them: 

Credit: BC.GAME

❌ Overvaluing Trips Made With The Door Card

In Courchevel, a trip made with the door is as good as a marginal hand. 

This trap is exactly what the strategy team at The Hendon Mob warns against in their breakdown of the game. They note that transitioning players frequently stumble here because “many people overvalue hands because they’re seeing too many possibilities. One of the most common mistakes in the Courchevel poker game is overcommitting to mediocre combos because something ‘almost’ connects with that revealed flop card.”

Anytime you make a trip, bet only 30-35% of your chips if it doesn’t have strong redraw potential (e.g., K ♠️ K♦️ 7 ♠️ 2❤️ 9♣️)

❌ Treating Large Preflop Raises As Bluffs

As someone who has seen many players steal the blinds with garbage hands in Sit-and-Go poker, I treat large pre-flop raises as bluffing.

So, when anyone raises the pre-flop in Courchevel, I quickly call their hand to catch the bluff even with a weak hand. In the end, they re-raise, and I forfeit my hand when I can no longer catch up.

After playing several poker formats, I realized there are differences between Texas Hold’em and Omaha. The same goes for Courchevel.

When someone bets hugely pre-flop in Courchevel poker, it’s often because they have monster hands and not necessarily air-bluffing. If you must re-pot, ensure it’s with strong hands.

But that’s not to say that people don’t bluff at all in Courchevel. I have seen many people fake strong hands pre-flop and raise with a blocker to force folds. So, always read your opponents’ hands at showdown to see if their raises were warranted or pure bluffing.

❌ Playing One-way Hands in Courchevel Hi-Lo

Another costly mistake in Courchevel Hi-Lo poker is chasing half of the pot. This can easily lead to 50% to 75% profit loss. 

Henceforth, prioritize hands with scoop potential when playing Hi-Lo. Some of the top examples are:

Conclusion

Courchevel poker is worth trying if you already love 5-card Omaha. You get to see one flop card before betting, which allows you to know if a hand is worth keeping or not.

Here are some of the poker tips that will help you as a beginner playing Courchevel poker for the first time:

• Read your door card before pocket cards
• Remember that only 2-hole cards go into forming the winning hands
• Chase only nuts and full pots in Hi-Lo
• Avoid overplaying the naked set
• Size your bet according to your position.
• Avoid calling pre-flop raises with a weak hand
• Play responsibly and treat your bankroll delicately

That last point is crucial. Set your limits before you play, and don’t hesitate to step away if you ever feel like you’re chasing losses or losing control. There’s no shame in seeking a helping hand from free, confidential groups like Gamblers Anonymous or the National Council on Problem Gambling.

Once you master Courchevel basics, sign up for our poker training apps to start practicing various hand simulations. They offer free poker games that prepare you for real-game adventures.

Up next, test yourself against your friends or try a low-stakes game at any online or live casino. Good luck!

FAQs

What Is Courchevel Poker?

Courchevel Poker is an Omaha variant where you see one of the flop cards in addition to your hole cards before the first betting round.

How Is Courchevel Poker Different From 5-Card Omaha?

In Courchevel, you see one of the flop cards before taking any action.

What Is the Door Card In Courchevel Poker?

The door card is the first flop card that is revealed before the pre-flop betting round. It enables you to know how likely your hand will connect with the rest of the flop before placing your first bet.

Do You Have to Use Exactly 2 Hole Cards In Courchevel Poker?

Yes, you must use 2 hole cards and 3 community cards in forming your winning hand in Courchevel poker.

What Is Courchevel Hi-Lo Poker?

Courchevel Hi-Lo is a variant where the prize pot is split between the best high and low hands.

What Types of Hands Usually Win In Courchevel Poker?

Hands where all 5 hole cards connect, and with the split card, usually win. Examples are

• Flop Wrap: [10♦️ 9♦️] [8♠️ 7♠️] [6❤️] with a door card of J♦️
• Connected Set: With a spit card of Q♣️, A holding of [Q❤️ Q♠️] [A❤️ K♣️] [J♠️] with a spit card of Q♣️
• The Double-Nut Flush Draw: With a spit card of[K ❤ ️Q ❤ ️] [J ♠ ️10 ♠ ️] [9 ♣ ️] with a spit card of A ❤ ️.

What Are Courchevel Poker Alternatives? 

If you prefer a more popular community poker game, 5-card Omaha, Irish Poker, and Pineapple Poker are great choices. You can try these games at top poker casinos like Wazamba, William Hill, 1Win, etc.