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How to use the Gap Concept effectively in Poker

Here is a common situation in poker that I am 99.9% sure that all of us have faced, if not witnessed.

You are in the cut-off in a 9-man sit n go, with a stack of around 2,000 with the blinds at 50/100. The player under the gun has about 1,800 in chips and raises it to 250. Everyone folds to you; you look down to see As-9s and decide to make the call. The button, small blind and big blind fold and you and the player under the gun go to see the flop with $650 in the pot.

The flop is Ad-10h-7s giving you top pair. The player under the gun thinks for a minute and then fires a bet of around 2/3 the size of the pot, or $225, and you call immediately. After all, you have top pair. There is now $1,100 in the pot.

The turn is a 3c which completes the rainbow. The villain fires another 2/3 sized bet of around $350 into the pot. You flat call $350 and now the pot is at $1,800. The river is a 6d which doesn’t complete any draws. The villain thinks for a few minutes and then decides to shove; you call of course since you figure a pair of aces is the best hand.

You flip over your As-9s proudly and immediately feel your heart sink when the villain flips over AhKh. You have just spent your entire stack only to find you were 2nd best the whole way.

Now, the situation above may be slightly exaggerated and the way the hand was played could definitely be argued, but that is all beside the point. If only the player on the cut-off exercised the well-known theory known as the Gap Concept, it is highly likely that this whole situation could have been avoided.

What is the Gap Concept?

For those who don’t know, the Gap Concept is a theory thought up by David Sklansky, a well-known poker player and author that simply states that a player should have a better hand to call a raise with, then if they were to make the initial raise themselves.

So, what that means is that when a player is the first one to enter the pot, they can raise their typical range of hands from whatever position that they are in. However, when faced with a raise, they will want to have a hand that is better than one they’d open up with themselves from where they are sitting or in other words, a hand within a hand range that they would play if they were sitting in the raiser’s seat.

In a nutshell, the Gap Concept was designed with the above situation in mind to help players avoid situations where they end up being second best with a dominated or out-kicked hand.

How to use it effectively

To properly use the Gap Concept when facing a raise from earlier position, you must consider what hands are typically played from the position the raiser is in and if the hand you are holding is equivalent or better than any hand in that range.

For example, if faced with a raise from a player in early position, you need to ask yourself, “What hands would someone play from this position?”

• AA-JJ, A-K, A-Q

If you have a hand that is within the scope of this hand range, then you can of course arguably 3-bet your opponent or flat call and focus on making a more informed decision on the flop.

On the other hand, if you didn’t have a hand within the scope of this hand range, say even A-J which of course is really only a hand or so wider in terms of range, then you would want to fold to avoid seeing the dreaded better kicker at showdown or when all in.

In addition to considering what ranges are common from whatever position the villain is raising from, it is also important to think of what hands you’ve seen this opponent play in previous hands. The reason being is that each player is different and not everyone sticks to the cookie cutter starting hand requirements. What this will ultimately mean is that there may be times where you will have to adjust what hands you are willing to fold, call or re-raise, be it a looser or tighter hand range.

While it may be difficult to fold appealing and potentially valuable hands such as A-Q, A-J or anything suited and/or connected when facing a raise, the amount of money that you save when doing so because you avoided being dominated will be a friendly reminder that it was a good fold on your part.

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