What is the proper kill ratio in home games?

[Easy E]

What is the proper kill ratio, in order to be sustainable? All of the following is based on introducing a kill concept to a game, but a kill that can be maintained (i.e. no player rebellions) long-term.

The point of a kill is to allow the limits to be raised without significantly increasing the bankroll needs of the players involved.

I) My first question is, what should the kill ratio, or the number of kill pots to regular pots, be as a goal, given the first two statements?
And, given that ratio, what is the proper kill trigger, in big bets, that would accomplish this desired ratio?

Obviously, it depends on the generally expected play (tight versus loose), but is there a target that can be set as a "rule" that will approach and generally maintain the proper kill ratio?
I've heard that the trigger seems to be 10BB in the pot on average (correct or not?) to trigger the kill. Is ten big bets too low or just right? I don't see anyone saying it's too high. Would you set that as the kill for tight games, with loose being 15BB?

II) Another question- what should the "sustaining trigger" be, once a kill hand is dealt? Should the sustaining trigger again be 10 or 15 big bets, but based on the kill's higher bet, in order for the following hand to remain at the kill level bet limits?

And what should the "maintain-kill vs. drop down" ratio be? I'm assuming it should be a lower ratio than the "regular-to-kill hands" ratio above, but how much lower?

III) How about re-kills? Should you lower the ratio by raising the trigger, in order to insure that double-plus limits caused by escalating kills don't "kill" off your game?

By the way, bet levels I'm thinking of:
- regular 5/10 to 7/15 kill to 10/20 rekill
- 5/10, 10/20, 15/30
- 5/10, 10/20, 20/40

(should there be a full to half kill structure instead?)

IV) If your answers to I-III would change for lower starting limits (microlimits up to 4/8) or higher (15/30 and above), please designate that.

Again, the two primary goals are allow a kill, but it must be maintainable. By "maintainable," I mean that the home game won't break up, and in the "real" poker world the less-skilled players won't get wiped too quickly, chasing them off.

I'm posting this in the Home Game forum and the General Theory, since I suspect that the answers concerning game maintenance will differ between home and casino games- would online play have to be a third category, due to hand volume?

TIA for those of you who have experience with kills and their effect on the game survival.
Easy E

[MaxPower]

I don't know what the optimal trigger amount should be. Obviously you will need a bigger bankroll when you have a kill and the more kill pots you have the bigger your bankroll needs to be.

However, you may want to think about a half-kill. We recently did this in a home game and it has worked out well. You don't want to raise the stakes so high that the losing players become uncomfortable and leave the game. Remember what Amarillo Slim said, "You can shear a sheep many times, but you can only skin him once."

I would suggest setting the trigger to an amount that is consensually considered a "big" pot in your game. Our game is very loose and we use 12.5 big bets.

Also I would make the rules than determine the kill simple. The last thing you want is a lot of arguing about the rules.

[Easy E]

If you note my example bet escalations, first was a half/half.

I agree that half-kill vs. full-kill helps mitigate the effects of the kill process.

So, 12.5 BB- what are your average kill ratios (kill hands vs. all hands)? Do you use maintain-kills or rekills (half kill jumps, I assume) in your game?

also:
"Obviously you will need a bigger bankroll when you have a kill and the more kill pots you have the bigger your bankroll needs to be."
Obviously, though if the ratio of non-kill (regular) to kill hands is low enough, the bankroll needs are also greatly reduced.

"You don't want to raise the stakes so high that the losing players become uncomfortable and leave the game"
Exactly- if you intro a kill, losing the game would be a horrible result. I'd want to forget the kill before that happens.

I was hoping people would have BB levels, as well as resulting kill ratios (as a guide to see if it might be getting out of hand), that they've successfully used in intro'ing a kill or half-kill concept.

Thanks for the info, MxP.