Poker players enjoying kill games are effectively enjoying poker games with fixed betting. The play involves multiple kill hands which involve playing an added blind bet and high betting limits too. For the avid poker player, these games are not as common – especially in home poker games. And when it comes to traditional casino gaming, kill games are plenty popular at special hours of play. For games like Texas Hold’em the concept of a poker kill game is more common owing to the prevalence of the forced bet. It is thus generally assumed that kill games are played when Texas Hold’em games are enjoyed. Kill games are not the exclusive domain of Hold’em games and other poker variants can introduce the concept of a kill game.

What is a Kill Game?

With a Kill Game the stakes increase when someone wins 2 qualifying poker hands. The kill involves two steps. The first step is that a player has to win the poker pot – no split pots qualify. The total value of the pot must equal or be greater than 5 times the big blind of the poker game. If the big blind is $20 then the pot would have to be a minimum of $100. Should this occur, the winning poker player would receive a button. This is known as the partial kill. When the game of Omaha 8 is played, the player must win the pot. If this player wins the next hand, a Kill Game may ensue. Recall that the amount must be at least 5 times the big blind, prior to the partial kill. The next stage is the Kill Game – pretty exciting isn’t it?

So you’re thinking of taking your poker game to the next level? In the realm of poker kings and queens, few positions hold more esteem than that of a poker dealer. The best part of dealing from live-dealer casinos or traditional Vegas-style casinos is that you never have to place a bet. That means you’re already winning – by salary or by gratuity. But money is a small part of the motivation for becoming a professional poker dealer. Players who enjoy Texas Hold’em, Razz, Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud games are connected by the creed that is shared by poker purists the world over. It’s the game and all its rollicking entertainment that has players coming back for more.

Professionalism Beyond Compare

Poker dealers rank among the most skilled dealers in a casino. The poker tables enjoy as much action as the craps tables, the roulette tables and the blackjack tables. Poker fans wanting to become poker dealers will find there are more colleges and gaming schools than they can shake a stick at. Multiple poker dealer training programs abound. And many of these poker schools will even provide players with advice on finding employment at casinos, gaming resorts and even cruise ships. These companies will often post personal online profiles, inclusive of an applicant’s video audition, to showcase a graduate’s skills to potential employers.

Choosing to Become a Poker Dealer

Once you’ve made the decision to become a poker dealer, a world of opportunity awaits you. But poker dealers need to possess multiple skills, characteristic and habits – all of which are essential to successfully nailing this career option. Dealers need to be polite, sensitive to a player’s requests, firm in delivering the action and taking the bets, numerate and able to calculate betting decisions, payouts and odds rapidly. Most importantly poker dealers need to be clear of a criminal record. Dealers wishing to work at Las Vegas or Atlantic City casinos will need to be registered via Gambling Authorities too. Players wishing to become dealers in the UK will need to contact the British Casino Association. And when all has been said and done, the world is your oyster!

Poker fans have long been enjoying the on-screen magnetism of NBCs Poker After Dark. This glorious series of insights into poker gaming has captivated the crowds on stage and audiences at home – across the world. Fans of Texas Hold’em poker gaming are particularly impressed with this show’s offerings.  The first season was broadcast on the 1^st January 2007 by presenter Shana Hiatt. This charismatic poker presenter held her position for Season 2 and was replaced in Season 3 by Marianela Pereya. By the time Season 4 rolled around, Leeann Tweeden was in pole position. Voice-over commentary for the entire series was provided courtesy of Oliver Nejad.

Structure of Poker After Dark

The series was initially structured as a contest pitting 6 leading poker professional against one another in a week of intensive No Limit Texas Hold’em gaming action. The pot was staked at some $120k. And because it’s a winner-takes-all packet, the competition was intense. The buy-in for each of the 6 poker pros is a whopping $20,000.  Poker After Dark determines a winner by the end of the 5^th show. There is a great deal of commentary interspersed within the gaming action, courtesy of players and the voice-over. The show continually innovates and provides players with many entertaining formats. By the beginning of Season 4, the producers of Poker After Dark decided to introduce NL Games and a Double Elimination Heads Up contest between the final 4 of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Poker After Dark in 2011

• Week 10:  Episodes 55-60 take place between September 12^th and September 17^th.  $100,000 is on offer and Andy Bloch, Annette Obrestad, Justin Smith, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth and Huck Seed are competing.
• Week 11: Episodes 61-66 take place between September 19^th and September 24^th. It’s a $20,000 Sit & Go with Mike Dappen, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, Erica Schoenberg and Jennifer Harman.
• Week 12:  Episodes 67-72 take place between November 21^st and November 26^th. There is $200,000 up for grabs. David Peat, Eli Elezra, David Oppenheim, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan will be competing.
• Week 13: Episodes 73- 78 take place from November 28^th to December 3^rd.  A good tally of $200,000 is up for grabs. Tom Dwan, David Peat, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, David Oppenheim and  Eli Elezra are slated to compete.

Players with the Most Wins in Poker After Dark Include the Following:

• Johnny Chan won 4 times and appeared 6 times. (His win rate was 67%).
• Howard Lederer won 4 times and appeared 12 times. (His win rate was 33%).
• Clonie Gowen won 3 times and appeared 5 times. (Her win rate was 60%).
• Gavin Smith won 3 times and appeared 5 times. (His win rate was 60%).
• Gabe Kaplan won 3 times and appeared 6 times. (His win rate was 50%).
• John Juanda won 2 times and appeared 5 times. (His win rate was 40%).
• Vanessa Rousso won 2 times and appeared 4 times. (Her win rate was 50%).

Facebook rules the roost when it comes to social networking. Few other sites are able to compete effectively against Facebook for market share – especially with the universal appeal that Facebook has created in a few short years. And in the realm of connectivity, Facebook users are all about making friends, viewing profiles, updating their status, getting information and yes – playing poker games online.

Facebook is not a software gaming developer – but it provides the ideal gaming platform to host a multitude of the world’s finest flash poker games. These games

Poker Mafia - another hit on facebook

sport multiple benefits, including the fact that they’re free, fun and pretty fancy!

Why Play Poker Games on Facebook?

Foremost among the reasons to play poker on FB is the massive global audience online. Poker is a game best enjoyed in numbers and Facebook has plenty of numbers. Many of the listed poker games on Facebook include well established titles such as: Texas HoldEm Poker – a variant of

Zynga Poker with a tally of 36,661,161 Monthly Active Users (MAU). Other popular Facebook poker games include Grand Poker, WSOP Poker and Perfect Poker. The list is a lengthy one and is matched with incredible levels of player support across the web.

Poker is the peoples’ game because it can be enjoyed in MTT (Multi-Table Tournaments) with thousands upon thousands of players competing at hundreds of tables simultaneously. Players can sign up by clicking on the ‘like’ button viewing the application and playing the game. The games load up in double-quick time because they use Flash and Java – it’s a cinch!

Play Poker Online for Free

Facebook does not offer poker online for real cash. This means that players enjoy the games for free. This does not constitute any infringement on gambling laws of any country – because no gambling is actually undertaken. The software gaming developers make their money by marketing their brand name to a massive audience and then making revenues off the chips that players buy to add to their stacks. The value of the real-money collected by these gaming developers is small in comparison to the sheer number of poker chips for sale.

And because poker players online don’t need to be depositing at the same site as one another to play poker games, it’s much easier to connect with people they want to play with. But the real clincher is this: Facebook users enjoying poker games via applications actually gain invaluable poker playing experience. This can be put to use in real poker rooms online. That way you get to practice as much as you want without paying for it!

Poker players are all about making cash. But making money playing poker is no easy feat. It takes tremendous skill, perseverance and a good dollop of Lady Luck. The strange thing about making money playing poker is that playing properly doesn’t always guarantee big winnings. The best advice is to take a multi-pronged approach to playing the game. At least this way, players get to enjoy long-term success in the game. And the strategic approach is heavily influenced by the concept of an Expected Value (EV).

Players should always lean towards decisions that can be classified as +EV (positive Expected Values) as opposed to decisions classified as –EV (negative Expected Values). The concept of EV is best defined as the expected value of a random variable is the sum of the probability of each potential outcome of the experiment multiplied by its concomitant payoff. Simply put, this is the amount that one expects to yield when identical odds are repeated over and over again.  So when you punt, this +EV is what you would typically expect.

A Classic Example of Expected Value

Poker players make use of the concept of Expected Value time and again. As an example of EV in action, a standard coin toss has an even or neutral EV. But a weighted coin toss has an unexpected EV outcome. A coin toss where the payoff on heads is +£10 and -£5 on tails would yield wins 50% of the time, but the EV is £2.50. So it would be worth making this bet because the probability of the outcome of winning £10 comes good 50% of the time and that is favorable than losing £5, 50% of the time.

In Poker Expected Values  Works in Much the Same Way

The notion of EV works well in poker because there are a set number of cards in play – 52. And with certain knowns and multiple unknowns, EV can be calculated.  Poker players simply calculate the number of cards required to hit a winning hand and the odds of not hitting the winning hand. The pot value should be known and the buy-in to win that pot should be known. If the value of placing the bet is worth the expected payoff, then the bet should be placed. Remember that it’s a long-term betting option and +EV bets are the dealmakers!