gap concept

[Mr Monkey 0]

Can someone explain the Gap Concept?

[jayistheman 0]

in order to call a raise, your hand has to be much stronger than if you were doing the raising yourself.

[Suited_Up 2]

I bet skansky can.But someone will probably do a better job than me, so i'll leave it to them.

[justblaze 0]

jayistheman has got it. for a much more indepth explanation, search 'gap concept' on RGP. as an aside, does anyone have DN's email addy? im suffering from a case of the retards and i cant seem to find it.

[jayistheman 0]

click "contact" on the homepage

[jayistheman 0]

actually, its up in the top left corner....

[CoolHandLaw 0]

does he still use kidpoker@hotmail.com?

[justblaze 0]

im stupid. thanks.

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

The idea is the difference in strength between the hand you can raise with and call a raise with. It's most applicable to tournaments. You can make a blind-stealing raise in late position with QJ off. But, if you're in the same position with QJ off and an early position raiser makes it a pot-sized bet to go, there's no way you can call that with QJ off.The "width" of the discrepancy in strength is what Sklansky calls The Gap Concept. At some points in the tournament the gap is wider than others. Like, in the first hour of the tournament the gap is small. But towards the final table, you'd definitely raise with a hand like 88 in late position if nobody's entered the pot, but would seriously consider folding if someone in an earlier position raised. The reason is that pretty much every pot you play towards the end of the tournament is for all your chips, and if you're average stacked you could pick a better spot than with 88. However, you'd have no problem raising with it if nobody's entered the pot ahead of you.Hope that was helpful.

[Mr Monkey 0]

Thanks everyone, you have been very helpful

[buchkoba 0]

This concept is something I've paid a lot more attention to lately in my SNG play, and it has made a huge difference for me. I now very rarely call someone elses raise unless I feel I have them dominated enough to re-raise.

[Quagmire 0]

The Gap Concept also takes into account what type of player has opened the pot with a raise. If you are in LP and an EP raiser makes a 3xBB raise, your behavior should differ based on your knowledge of the player. If he has shown the tendency to play a lot of pots, and will bring it in for a raise with less than spectacular holdings, the Gap is narrower, and you can call with slightly more marginal cards. If it is a tight player who hasn't played a hand in the past hour and has only shown down good hands when he's gotten to the river, the Gap should be wider than normal, meaning you need much better cards to call his raise than the loose aggressive player's raise.You will make most of your money off players in NL who have no clue about this concept. They see ATo and just can't fold it when you (a tight aggressive player) opens with a raise from UTG. Then they post in the Bad Beats section about how they never win with ATo or AJo. Duh!The Theory of Poker has the best explanation of this item.

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

allllllllll right...

[LooseCannon 0]

One aspect of the Gap Concept that is oft-ignored is that it is more meaningful against players who are not aware of the concept itself.

[Eclypse 0]

Next time you're in a book store, take a copy of Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky off the shelf, turn to page 27 titled "The Gap Concept" and read it--right there in the bookstore. It's only about 4 pages.