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How to Play Courchevel

Omaha poker is the second most popular poker variant in the world. It offers a ton of action and has an average pot size larger than NL Hold’em. Variants of Omaha poker have proven popular at online poker rooms in the past and a variant that’s found almost exclusively online is Courchevel.

Today, we will take a look at Courchevel and how it is played. It is a high action game that all fans of Omaha poker will enjoy.

Rules of Courchevel

Courchevel is a variant of Five Card Omaha poker. If you’re familiar with Five Card Omaha, then you know that you’re given five hole cards instead of the standard four. With Courchevel, you get an added twist.

After everyone receives their hole cards, the first card of the flop is exposed. This is different than every other form of Omaha out there. This allows players to start developing potential hands and gives them a better idea of whether their starting hand is worth playing.

In Courchevel, you get to see the first card of the flop on the deal.

After an initial round of betting, the rest of the flop is dealt. The hand then progresses the same as a standard hand of Five Card Omaha. Your best hand is made from two cards in your hand three on the board.

In some instances, you will find Courchevel Hi-Lo, which is the same as Omaha Hi-Lo but with the added elements of Five Card Omaha.

Strategy for Courchevel

The first card of the flop, also known as the doorcard, is very important in this game. It will help you determine whether to continue with your hand. For example, if the doorcard immediately gives you a set, then you’re going to be in excellent shape to continue in the hand.

When the door card gives you three to a flush, this is another hand you want to consider continuing with, especially if you are looking at the nut flush. Three card straights are good to continue with provided they are the nuts and you have the potential for redraws after the flop.

Keep in mind that since you are playing with five hole cards as opposed to four, players are going to have many more starting hand combinations. The odds of someone holding a nut hand or a nut draw goes up dramatically, even more so than standard Omaha games.

As such, you are not going to be looking to play many second-best hands in this game. With this game being on steroids compared to standard Omaha, you want to be holding or drawing to the nuts.

Hand evaluation is also key. Once the entire flop is dealt, you need to make sure you’re as strong as you think. Next, one the turn and river, you’re often looking to get out with second best hands and worse.

Where to Play Courchevel

The best play to play Courchevel presently is online. Online poker rooms such as PokerStars and partypoker both offer Courchevel in both cash game and tournament formats. Personally, I like playing Courchevel tournaments because you have a lot of players that like to gamble. As such, you are much more likely to get paid off for big hands than in cash games.

Beginners to the game are going to play lower buy-in tournaments to get experience rather than risk a chunk of their bankroll in cash games. If you can play for $1.10 for experience, why not? There are also play money versions of the game available at PokerStars that you can try if you don’t want to risk any of your bankroll to try the game out.

Courchevel is a fun variant of Omaha that most players should learn. If you plan to play in mixed games such as Dealer’s Choice, it will benefit you to learn this game as gamblers are going to pick this game often to try and drive action.

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