Mind the Gap – The Gap Concept

The first proponent of the Gap Concept was professional poker writer David Sklansky. He felt that in order to call a raise by another player, it requires a much stronger hand than would be required to make an open raise. In this case, the gap is the difference between those cards that we would make a raise with, and those that we would call a raise with.

This gap is of course never the same size in all situations. If the raiser is a very tight player, then the gap increases and you need to have a very strong hand if you want to call. If the raiser is an aggressive and loose player, then the gap shrinks and opens up a few more hands that you can call with. There is no formula to determine what the gap is, it is up to you to decide based on what you know about the player who made the raise, stack sizes, and the overall dynamics of the table.