The Gap Concept
8:45 PM
Renowned poker author David Sklansky first defined the gap concept in one of his poker books 'Tournament Poker For Advanced Players'. Sklansky came up with the idea of the gap concept which is nowadays widely considered a tried and tested tournament poker theory, specifically for Texas Holdem tournaments.
The concept dictates that you need a stronger hand to call a pre flop raise with than you would if opening for a raise yourself, which means there is a potential gap between the quality of hands opening raises and calling raises. For example, if the action has been folded around to you in late position and you hold JQ, it's perfectily acceptable to open the pot for a raise looking to win the pot there and then, the small or big blind need to have a significantly better hand to be able to call with though, this is the gap Sklansky refers to.
Using the same example as before, except this time the player under the gun opened for a raise pre flop and the action has been folded to you in late position, your JQ is no longer playable because you need a better hand to call a raise with than you would if opening the pot yourself. What was a perfectly acceptable hand to raise with in one situation has become a substandard holding in another.
The gap concept works on the basis of first in vigorish; part of the value in being the first person to raise is the chance your opponents will fold leaving you to win an uncontested pot. Also, any person who raises infront of you potentially needed a stronger hand to raise with because they had more players to push the raise through, therefore a stronger hand is needed to call in such circumstances.
The concept dictates that you need a stronger hand to call a pre flop raise with than you would if opening for a raise yourself, which means there is a potential gap between the quality of hands opening raises and calling raises. For example, if the action has been folded around to you in late position and you hold JQ, it's perfectily acceptable to open the pot for a raise looking to win the pot there and then, the small or big blind need to have a significantly better hand to be able to call with though, this is the gap Sklansky refers to.
Using the same example as before, except this time the player under the gun opened for a raise pre flop and the action has been folded to you in late position, your JQ is no longer playable because you need a better hand to call a raise with than you would if opening the pot yourself. What was a perfectly acceptable hand to raise with in one situation has become a substandard holding in another.
The gap concept works on the basis of first in vigorish; part of the value in being the first person to raise is the chance your opponents will fold leaving you to win an uncontested pot. Also, any person who raises infront of you potentially needed a stronger hand to raise with because they had more players to push the raise through, therefore a stronger hand is needed to call in such circumstances.
