Rules of Poker · Chapter 32 · 2026 edition
Courchevel is five-card Omaha with one twist: the first card of the flop is dealt face up before the pre-flop betting, so everyone bets their first round already knowing one board card. Everything else is Omaha's, including the rule that a hand is exactly two hole cards and three board cards.
Shared rules follow Omaha (Omaha); the hi-lo version splits its pots as in Omaha Hi-Lo (Omaha Hi-Lo and Big O).
Courchevel uses a 52-card deck and five hole cards each, as five-card Omaha does (30.12). The deck limit is the same too: nine players take 45 hole cards and the board five more, so a room that burns cards seats fewer.
Source: pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel"; pokerfuse, "PokerStars to debut poker variants Five Card Omaha, Courchevel" (2013).
pagat.com describes Courchevel as popular in France and spreading to other parts of Europe, including the UK. It is reportedly named after the French Alpine ski resort, and Somuchpoker says it is most often found in Europe and in mixed-game rotations. PokerStars added it online in 2013, which pokerfuse believed to be the first time it had been dealt online.
Source: pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel"; Somuchpoker, "Courchevel: The Sleek European Omaha Variant Explained"; pokerfuse, "PokerStars to debut poker variants Five Card Omaha, Courchevel".
The blinds go in, each player gets five cards face down, and then the dealer turns one card face up in the middle. That card is the first card of the flop, sometimes called the Courchevel card or door card. The pre-flop betting round is then played with it showing. Sources agree on this order but say nothing about whether a card is burned before the exposed card; pagat.com mentions a burn only before the rest of the flop (32.5).
Source: pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel"; PokerListings, "How to Play Courchevel Poker" (2026); The Asian Poker Tour, "Courchevel Hi-Lo".
Since the blinds go in before the deal, nobody gets to see the exposed card before posting. The pre-flop round then runs exactly as in Omaha: the player left of the big blind acts first and the big blind has the option (30.3). The exposed card is a shared board card, not anyone's own up card, so unlike a stud up card it never decides who acts first.
Source: PokerListings, "How to Play Courchevel Poker"; pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel".
After the pre-flop betting the dealer burns a card and deals two more face up, completing a three-card flop with the card already showing. The flop betting follows, then the turn and river with a betting round each, as in Omaha. The finished board is five cards, one of them the exposed card.
Source: pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel"; The Asian Poker Tour, "Courchevel Hi-Lo".
Courchevel is traditionally pot-limit, which is how PokerStars spread it, on six-player tables. PokerStars also dealt the hi-lo version at fixed limit, and Somuchpoker notes some venues offer fixed-limit and no-limit games. Betting structures in general are Betting structures.
Source: Somuchpoker, "Courchevel: The Sleek European Omaha Variant Explained"; pokerfuse, "PokerStars to debut poker variants Five Card Omaha, Courchevel".
Your hand is exactly two of your five hole cards with exactly three of the five board cards (30.5). The exposed card is simply one of those five board cards: you may use it or not. Example: the exposed card is the ace of spades and the board finishes A-J-7-7-3. Holding J-J among your five, you play J-J with the board's J-7-7 for jacks full of sevens, and the ace plays no part.
Source: pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel".
You show all your hole cards to win, the cards speak, and ties and odd chips are handled as in Omaha (30.10, Showdown, Pots).
Source: pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel" and "The Showdown"; TDA 2026 (Version 1.1), Rules 13 and 14-A.
Dealing habit can put three cards out at the flop instead of two, making a four-card flop. Robert's Rules, which has no Courchevel section, says a Hold'em flop with too many cards must be redealt, and applies its Hold'em rules to Omaha; a room dealing Courchevel would normally treat the extra card the same way. How a misdealt flop is fixed is The deal and misdeals.
Source: pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rule 3, and Section 6, "Omaha" rule 1.
The hi-lo version plays exactly like Courchevel and splits the pot as Omaha Hi-Lo: half to the best high, half to the best low of eight or better, with two hole cards each way and possibly different two (31.5, 31.6). With no qualifying low the high hand scoops (31.10).
Source: The Asian Poker Tour, "Courchevel Hi-Lo"; PokerListings, "How to Play Courchevel Poker"; pokerfuse, "PokerStars to debut poker variants Five Card Omaha, Courchevel".
pagat.com and PokerStars deal Courchevel with five hole cards, but some descriptions use four: PokerListings and The Asian Poker Tour's handbook both describe four hole cards, and Somuchpoker mentions that some versions use four. Four-card Courchevel is simply Omaha with the first flop card shown early. A host offering Courchevel should say how many cards are dealt.
Source: pagat.com, Omaha, "Courchevel"; PokerListings, "How to Play Courchevel Poker"; The Asian Poker Tour, "Courchevel Hi-Lo"; Somuchpoker, "Courchevel: The Sleek European Omaha Variant Explained".
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