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Refining The Gap Concept For Online Tournaments
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The Gap Concept is just one of David Sklansky's many excellent ideas that have had such a formidable impact on the development of serious poker players. Stated simply, the gap concept means that you will need a better hand to call an opening bet than you would to open the betting yourself. So, if you were first to act with AJ suited, a hand made for the gap concept, you could open strongly with it, but if you had to respond to a bet of that exact size holding AJ suited in later position you should fold.
The difference between the strength of the hand needed to call the opening bet and that of the hand needed to make the opening bet in the first place is "the gap". The gap widens or narrows depending on the type of opposition you face, and the gap concept is crucial in no-limit tournaments. The gap concept is also influenced heavily by the size of your stack, but as a general rule it may be wise to open the betting holding pocket deuces but it is nearly always foolish to call that bet with the same cards.
It is one of the few instances where early position can be a distinct advantage. Because you are first to act you can scare off hands that are similar to yours by virtue of an aggressive bet, and the gap concept only works with aggressive betting. This brings us to our refinements or necessary adjustments to the Gap Concept when you are playing online tournaments. First of all, many opponents have never heard of this concept, nor would they subscribe to it if they did understand it. A lot of online poker players have fixed notions in their tiny heads regarding the strength of an opening hand. For these players it doesn't matter whether they hold AK in early, middle, or late position, nor does it matter if the pot has been raised three times before the action comes to them. As soon as those cards were flipped up on their screen they resolved to go all-in, because they have BIG SLICK. They're calling all the other dudes in the Frat house to check out their monster hand, never thinking that someone else has AK and a third player has them completely dominated with a pocket pair.
The Gap Concept works best when you are confident that everyone at the table is familiar with it, and has decided to apply it. It's like the truth in that regard. The problem with online tournament poker is that players overvalue starting hands, so the opening bet could mean anything, but it usually means less than you think coming from a live game environment. It is almost impossible to call a bet and an all-in raise with pocket Tens until you've played in a lot of online tournaments, because that bet is anything from Ax to JT suited, while the all-in raise could be anything from AQ to pocket Nines. Our advice to you is to presume that the Gap Concept is applicable until empirical evidence at your table assures you otherwise. Then you need to loosen the terms, because the standards around you are so much lower. Do not pre-judge your table, however, especially if you are playing at a one-table tournament where the buy-in is $100 or more. At any level less than this we are confident that you will not find the Gap Concept being applied the way it should. In multi-table tournaments the buy-in must be $60 or greater for you to respect the bets of your opponents.
The Gap Concept can be a saviour if only because it makes you stop and consider, and while you are doing this please remember that even the worst player is sometimes dealt pocket Aces, and even she will know enough to open the betting with them.
Related Poker Articles And News Items:
> Poker Tournament Bankrolls
> The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 3
> The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 2
> The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 1
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