Watching Mike Matusow play $200/$400 Poker is all well and good (and certainly entertaining), but how does it help those that are just starting out in Poker? How does it help those that want to play the micro limits - 0.15c/.30c, or even 0.1c/2c? Well, the answer is that it although certain principles may be the same, the games as very different overall. What complete beginners need is a site that’s especially geared up to cater for them. Enter CardKiller.com

What’s good?

For a site dealing with the Micro Limits you’d expect a micro price, and CardKiller certainly doesn’t disappoint there. There’s no signup fee, and it’s a mere $10 a month to become a member. That’s nothing, and they even give you one day free to trial the service. So at least on cost Card Killer is very hard to beat.

The videos are great for beginners. We have such titles as “Building your bankroll at .01/.02 limits”, “How to play the 9 player $6 SNG” and “Poker Stars .05/.10 micro cash”. There is a lot of information on Sit N Go’s (which are great for beginners), and they really go into detail on how to start (there’s even a PowerPoint presentation in one video!).

The variety of the videos is decent, with Stud, RAZZ, Horse, Omaha, Sit N Gos, Multi Table Tournaments, Heads Up and Pot Limit all covered. There are also some interesting “study lessons”, such as “Using Harrington on Hold’em Vol.II in your game” and “Bankroll Management for MTT’s, SNG and Cash Games”. For those getting bored with the micro stakes action, they also have a few high stakes videos where they analyse the action from some high-stakes pros.

There is also an audio section, which is unusual for a Poker training site. Although not that extension, it’s a nice little addition.

What’s bad?

Unfortunately, with the micro price comes a distinctly budget look at feel for the site. We’re a long way from the glossy looks of somewhere like Poker Savvy Plus. In fact, the construction of the entire site could be described as “budget”. Of course, the most important thing is the content, but everyone likes a feeling of quality with something they have purchased.

Take the list of available member videos, for example. It’s pretty hard to follow, the videos aren’t dated, you can’t tell which ones you’ve already watched, and there’s no way to rate or comment on the videos (which both Poker Savvy Plus and Real Poker Training do allow). It’s just … amateurish.

There’s no forum at CardKiller.com, so in order to get feedback on your progress you have to use the “Advisor” feature. This allows you to send in a hand history, and have an advisor get back to you with a review. Of course, this is welcome, but a forum would have made this type of communication so much easier - and allowed members to learn from the mistakes of others. As it is, there’s no real sense of a “community” at Card Killer, which is a shame.

Conclusion

Overall, Card Killer is excellent value for money. You get 173 videos for a mere $10 a month. The video quality is fine, and the instructors are good. For someone on a budget looking to beat the micro limits, it’s just about perfect. That being said, the price point shows in the quality of the construction of the site and the member benefits. Better players looking for a community to learn it would be better of going elsewhere.

Production quality	4
Video Variety	4
Additional Teaching Materials	4
Instructor’s Teaching Ability	2
Value for money	5
Overall	4