Courchevel Poker: Rules & Strategy for 5-Card Omaha With an Exposed Flop Card
Courchevel is five-card pot-limit Omaha where the first flop card is dealt face up before the preflop betting round. Each player gets five hole cards, sees the exposed "door card", bets, and then the remaining two flop cards complete the flop. Showdown keeps Omaha's rule: exactly two hole cards plus exactly three board cards.
Most poker variants change what you hold. Courchevel changes what you know: a third of the flop is public before a single chip goes in. That one exposed card collapses the usual preflop guessing game into something closer to a puzzle — and players who keep playing generic five-card Omaha hands into it fund the ones who re-evaluate every hand against the door card.
The rules, step by step
- 1. Deal: blinds post; each player receives five hole cards face down.
- 2. Door card: the dealer immediately turns the first flop card face up in the middle.
- 3. Preflop betting with the exposed card in full view, pot-limit, starting left of the big blind.
- 4. Flop completed: two more cards join the door card; normal flop betting round.
- 5. Turn, river, showdown: as in Omaha — betting each street, and your hand is exactly 2 of your 5 hole cards + exactly 3 board cards. Pot-limit betting throughout; a hi-lo split version also exists.
Why one exposed card changes everything
In standard PLO or five-card PLO, preflop equities bunch tightly together — almost any five cards have a playable share against almost any other five. The door card breaks that symmetry before betting starts:
- • Sets announce themselves. Holding a pair of the door card's rank means you have flopped a set before the flop betting round — the strongest routine holding in the game, and everyone knows only two more of that rank exist.
- • Whole hand categories die early. A beautiful double-suited rundown pointed the wrong way from the door card is just five cards. If the exposed card is the 2♦ and you hold Q-J-T-9-8, a third of your straight window is already gone.
- • Suits get counted immediately. A suited door card upgrades every hand holding two of that suit (three flush cards are live) and quietly taxes everyone else.
- • Preflop pots inflate. Pot-limit betting plus visible equity means the players who connect with the door card build pots early — passive limping ranges get punished harder than in PLO.
Strategy for Hold'em and PLO players
- ✓ Re-rank every hand against the door card. The question is never "are these five cards nice?" but "what do these five cards make with that card?" Pairing it, wrapping it, and double-suiting with it are the value; ignoring it is the leak.
- ✓ Chase nuts, not pieces. With five hole cards per player, non-nut flushes and low-end straights lose even more than in four-card Omaha. The exposed card tells you early which nut draws are live — draw to those or fold.
- ✓ Respect early aggression more than in PLO. Preflop raises in Courchevel are made with a third of the flop known. A pot-size raise into a paired-friendly door card is much more often a set than a speculative sweat.
- ✓ Bankroll like a big-variance game. Five-card hands plus pot-limit escalation means equities still run close on later streets — swings sit well above NLHE. The variance calculator with a higher standard deviation shows what you are signing up for.
Courchevel vs PLO vs 5-Card PLO
| Feature | PLO (4-card) | 5-Card PLO | Courchevel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hole cards | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Flop card exposed preflop | No | No | Yes — the door card |
| Showdown rule | Exactly 2 + 3 | Exactly 2 + 3 | Exactly 2 + 3 |
| Betting | Pot-limit | Pot-limit | Pot-limit |
| Preflop information | Your 4 cards | Your 5 cards | Your 5 cards + 1 board card |
Courchevel is easiest to learn as a delta from five-card Omaha — if you have not played that yet, start with our 5-Card PLO strategy guide and the foundations in What is Omaha (PLO)?
Frequently asked
Why is it called Courchevel?
The game is named after Courchevel, the ski resort in the French Alps — the variant is generally credited to French games, and the name stuck as it spread through European cardrooms. Beyond the name, there is no skiing involved: it is five-card pot-limit Omaha with the first flop card exposed early.
Do you still have to use exactly two hole cards?
Yes. Courchevel keeps Omaha's core rule: your final hand must use exactly two of your five hole cards plus exactly three community cards. Holding four hearts does not give you a flush if only one heart is on the board, and you can never play the board.
When is the exposed card dealt?
Immediately after the hole cards and before any betting. The dealer places the first flop card face up (often called the door card or spit card), and only then does the preflop betting round begin. After that round completes, the remaining two flop cards are dealt and the hand continues like five-card Omaha: flop betting, turn, river, showdown.
Is Courchevel played hi-lo?
Both versions exist. Courchevel Hi-Lo splits the pot between the best high hand and the best qualifying 8-or-better low, with the same exposed-card mechanic. The high-only pot-limit version is the more common one in online rotations, but mixed games often prefer the split-pot variant.
Can I play Courchevel online?
Availability comes and goes. PokerStars has historically spread Courchevel and Courchevel Hi-Lo in its mixed-game lineup, and the game appears in home-game apps with configurable variants. It has never been a permanent fixture like PLO, so check your room's game list rather than assuming.
What is the best starting hand in Courchevel?
There is no fixed answer, because hand value depends heavily on the exposed card. Before it is revealed, the strongest holdings are the usual five-card Omaha monsters: big pairs with double-suited, connected side cards. But a modest hand that pairs the door card into a set, or wraps around it, usually beats a 'pretty' hand that ignores it. Judge every starting hand against the exposed card, not in a vacuum.
Tools for this game
More poker variants
New to poker? Take the free 15-minute crash course →