Gap concept

The concept of "Gap" is one of the concepts designed by David Sklansky. The concept of "Gap" describes the difference between the hand of a player who raises his hand to raise the player who makes the call. Gap concept is especially useful in the later stages of a tournament.

GAP is a general concept that is critical to understand if you want to be a successful player in the tournament. Sklansky introduced the concept in his book "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players." Concept simply implies that you need a better hand to call a raise from an opponent than when it is you who makes the initial raise. " Gap "is therefore the difference between the strength of hands a player will call a raise and hand strength with which the player to bet.

The size of this difference (gap) depends on how your opponent plays. The concept assumes that the player has initially raises a wide range of hands that allow him to do so. The more "tight" the image of this player, the lower the number of these books and the difference between the hand and the one who raises him who thinks to pay is higher. If your opponent is very "loose" can exist where there is no difference (gap). This concept is often used in tournament poker, especially when the blinds are very high compared to your stack.

Sklansky has developed a system for novice players for No Limit Tournaments:

1. If someone raised before you, go all in with Aces, Kings, or AK suited. If you do not have such a hand, then gives up.

2. If no one has raised before you, then go all-in with any pair, Ax suited, AK (suited or non-suited) and all suited connectors, except 2-3 and 3-4.

Using option 2 is that going all in with about 13% of all possible hands. Both options have however adjusted if the blinds are high compared to your stack size. This clearly explains how the gap concept. You call a small range of hands and push with greater range.

In tournaments you have to avoid confrontations with players who have shown strength and want to exploit the weaknesses of players trying to survive with a short stack. An important point is that the end of the tournament no-limit players do not need to raise if re-raise is automatically muck for him.

Examples

All-ins take place in many tournaments, but Sklansky uses examples of specific situations. "You are a big tournament and you're blind. You have to make enough chips to call a small raise. All are folded to the small blind, which is a min-raise without looking at books. Thou look at your cards and see 3-2o. You make the call here? Yes 3-2o has 32% chance of winning against a random hand and the pot odds of 3:1. "

Here is an example of applying the concept K9s gap by a marginal hand. Imagine that you have the hand in a middle or late position. If a player with a big stack raises considerably before you, this indicates a relatively strong hand. A raise in a starting position seems much stronger than a raise from late position because the player knows that there are many players you have to act after he receives the call and if he will play this hand out of position. Hand the player may be AJ + or 99 +. These hands are favorite against your hand K9s, and for this reason should give her at this time. However, if no player has raised before you open or simple, you can continue to play this hand. There were many players left to act behind you and we use this concept to our advantage gap. I would faint, small pairs, and even AJ can give here against your all-flax.

AKo is of course a monstrous hand in no limit and is often pushed all in or all-in Called. Going all-in preflop is often a good way to play this hand. However, it is better to go all in with this hand than you do call all-in. Against random pairs are lower if the mass does not help, and against another random hand are 2:1 favorite. If you have moved all-in, many of these hands will be thrown by opponents, so if you get called, you will often find a pair as against 88 +.

Hand Range

As mentioned earlier, the range of hands that can push against a loose-aggressive player is much smaller compared with the range of hands that you can use against a passive player. Against a passive player can push with all hands shown in the table below yellow. This hole will be very high. For example is not very likely that a passive player to call with a hand like J8o. Remember, however you need a relatively large stack to make the opponents to fold. If a player needs to call an extra 1BB, all players will call with any hand.

Against an aggressive player this range will be less. Here you will push with A9 +, any pair and KJ +. The difference is much smaller here, so we have to play better hands.

call within the opposite applies. Against a passive player you can call with a very few hands, while loose-aggressive player against this range will be much higher. As you can see, it is very important to know about the playing styles of opponents.

Since many players have learned / read about the gap concept, you can call many steal attempts when you are on the big blind with hands that normally have no value. It is much easier to make calls with one hand and K3o or call A2o than do low light with a connector.

This type of analysis is of course very static. It gives you a guide to use against a specific type of player, and the analysis depends on playing style of the player. Not consider their style of play, dynamic table, stack sizes etc.

The main idea

Gap concept has to do with position, player type (loose or aggressive) that you duel, his own image, average stack, your stack in relation to the other, the blind, the number of players at the table , prize structure, bubble play and more.

in theory, Sklansky assume that your opponents do not understand the concept Gap. However, each player with a certain level of experience you have to understand the concept if he / she wants to play in tournaments profitable. Opponents understand the concept that gap can be advantageous for you. For example, they do call on your good hand with K3o. You will need to apply this concept if you want to survive in the later stages of tournaments. You can not always expect you to come Aces or Kings.

Here's a short clip in which Phil Gordon explains the Gap Concept short again.