How to Play Courchevel Poker?
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Courchevel poker is a variant of one of the most played poker games in the world – Omaha poker. This variant, although not as famous, takes Omaha poker to another level. Courchevel is a game of 5 cards and its main differentiating factor from Omaha poker is that the first community card is placed face up before the beginning of the first betting round.
In this article, you will learn about how to actually play a game of courchevel poker by reading about the rules of the game, how to play it, and thus understanding how the game works.
Setting of the game
The courchevel poker game is played using a standard deck of 52 cards and poker chips. Every player is dealt 5 cards, face down, known as hole cards. 5 community cards are dealt on the board. The first community card is dealt face up while the rest are dealt face down.
Objective of the game
The objective of this poker game is similar to Omaha – that is, by using exactly 2 hole cards and any 3 of the 5 community cards, a player has to make the best five card hand out of all the players to win the pot.
Rules of the game
Being a variant of Omaha poker game, the courchevel poker has similar rules that is easy to learn, especially if you know the rules of Omaha. One should keep the following rules in mind when playing the game –
1. In courchevel poker, every player is dealt 5 hole cards which are their own private cards and cannot be seen by the other players.
2. Then 5 community cards are dealt on the board, face up, in an orderly fashion – the first single card, then two cards together, then another single card and then the last single card.
3. In courchevel poker, the first community card is dealt before the first round of betting, after which the remaining 2 cards are dealt. These three cards together are called ‘the flop’.
4. The betting rounds take place before and after each of the community cards are placed on the board.
5. All the players playing the game have to use exactly 2 of their hole cards in conjunction with any 3 community cards to make the best 5 card hand to win the pot.
Now that you are familiar with the rules of the game, lets get to know the 3 betting limits of courchevel –
· Limit courchevel – In this type of game the size of the bets are determined before the commencement of the game. Since this game spans over 4 betting rounds, the size of bets in the first 2 rounds is most of the time half the size of bets in the last 2 betting rounds.
· No-Limit courchevel – In this type of game with the lower limit of betting amount decided beforehand, there is no fixed upper limit to placing the bets. The players can even bet all of their chips.
· Pot-Limit courchevel – In this type of game the size of the bet is restricted to the size of the pot.
After covering the betting limits of this game, let's get down and see how an actual game of courchevel poker is played.
Playing the game
First things first, the blinds. This game consists of 2 blinds – the big blind and the small blind.
The big blind is usually the minimum bet required to play the game. The small blind is usually half the size of the big blind. These blinds are made by 2 players before the commencement of the game by the position of the dealer button, which is used when the players are also taking up the role of a dealer.
After the blinds have been made, the game of courchevel poker begins.
1. The first betting round
Here, before the actual betting, every player is dealt 5 hole cards one at a time. These 5 hole cards can only be seen by the player who received it and not by other players.
Before the first betting round begins, the dealer places the first community card, face up on the board. Each player, after evaluating their own hole cards together with the single shared community card can make one of the following actions –
· Call – By choosing this option, the player will place the amount equal to the big blind
· Raise – By choosing this option, the player will raise the bet which will be double the size of the big blind
· Fold – By choosing this option, the player will not place anything in the pot and will no longer be a part of the hand, thus becoming ineligible to win the hand.
2. The flop round (Second betting round)
After the first betting round is completed, the dealer then places two community cards, face up on the board, known as ‘the flop’.
Now there are a total of three community cards placed on the board. The players will evaluate their 5 hole cards and the 3 community cards and make their betting decisions. From this round, the first player has an additional betting option – to check which means that the player will stay in the hand without giving anything to the pot.
3. The turn round (Third betting round)
After the second betting round is completed, the dealer then places the fourth community card on the board, known as ‘the turn’.
Now a total of 9 cards, including 5 hole cards and 4 community cards are available to the players still in the game. In this betting round, the players have the same betting options as in the last round.
4. The river round (Fourth betting round)
This is the fourth and the final betting round. Here, the dealer places the fifth and last community card on the board known as ‘the river’. At this point of time, each active player has availability of a total of 10 cards. The betting takes place in exactly the same manner as the last two betting rounds.
5. The Showdown
The active players who remained in ‘the river’ round will enter the showdown. Each of these players will show their cards. The player with the best 5 card hand will win and get the pot. In case there is a tie between the players, the pot will be split equally between the tied players.
With the showdown and awarding of the pot we come to an end of how to play the courchevel poker. You now have all the theory needed to put the game into actual practice. So why wait? Download the GetMega Poker app now and enjoy a game of courchevel with your friends and have a fun time!
