can someone please explain what a half kill means?

[theyweresuited]

going to vegas in a couple months and keep seeing half kill when looking into the pokerroooms...thank you very much, from the new kid

[aggie01]

If some criteria is met (usually some one winning two hands in a row) then the stakes go up by 50% for a 1/2 Kill game and 100% for a full Kill game.

Example for 1/2 Kill:
stakes go from 4/8 to 6/12
Example for full Kill:
stakes go from 4/8 to 8/16

[Bremen]

Do they ever go back down? I mean, stakes can't endlessly go up. If it just stays at the higher lvl it seems kindof pointless since anyone coming just treats it as a higher limit.

[theyweresuited]

exactly what i was wondering, bremen..i dont see how that could be right [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Andy B]

There should be a FAQ section to cover stuff like this. A "kill" is a blind raise. Some games have a kill built into their structure. The kill goes into effect when some criterion has been met. This may be winning two pots in a row of a certain size, or it may be scooping a single pot of a certain size. The winner of the pot must post a third blind, and the stakes increase. In a full kill, the stakes double, and in a half-kill, the stakes increase by 50%. I've also heard of a $6/12 game with a kill to $10/20. The amount of the blind that the killer posts is equal to the small bet at the higher level. The killer has the option to raise in turn, or in some places, he may act last, like a straddler. If the killer is in the blinds, he posts his kill in place of his regular blind.

Hopefully, an example will make this reasonably clear. My local card room has a $20/40 Omaha/8 game with a half-kill that I play in once in a while. If a player scoops a pot of $200 or more, he must post a blind of $30, and the stake increase to $30/60. The killer may raise in turn if he wishes. For some reason, we use $5 chips in this game, even though the room has an adequate supply of $10 chips.

[Andy B]

The stakes go back down to the lower level on the very next hand, unless the next hand happens to also be a kill.

[NateDog]

If someone other than the kill player wins the hand, it reverts to original stakes.

[Andy B]

Unless it's a game where the kill is triggered by a player scooping a single pot, in which case it stays at the higher stakes.

[theyweresuited]

thank you for the example and clarification andy b [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[ohiou]

If you can keep your head I find kill games to be profitable. When the blinds go up because of a kill, it will put some people on tilt. When I have happened to stumble into a good hand on a Kill deal, people have always paid off.