The Gap Concept is a widely understood principle amongst professional poker tournament players that figures this way, “you need a better hand to call a raise with than you would need to open the betting yourself”. For a simple example, if I am in middle position with AJs, and it has been folded to me, this is a good raising opportunity. However, holding the same hand on the button, facing a good sized raise from early position, this would generally be a fold, save for other conditions.

This well known concept was introduced, and extensively discussed in David Sklansky’s classic poker book, Tournament Poker for Advanced Players. Since that publication however, the poker tournament world has dramatically exploded. Huge prize tournaments are ruled now by players seemingly willing to risk their whole tournament on inferior hands, or courageous/foolish bluffs. If you play in any tournament online you will know that 90% of the players would play AJs, and play it hard in the above situation.

So can you be competitive in a contemporary tournament applying the Gap Concept? Well, yes, and no. In the early stages of a tournament where a three-times-the-blind raise still isn’t that significant to the stacks, quality starting hand raises are going to get called by many players. The pros often do this, as a way of actually seeking out contentious confrontations while relying on their post flop play to take you off an often better hand. In fact, they want you to be ahead pre-flop, knowing that the odds of you hitting the flop are far less, than them being able to outplay you. This gives further credence to the Dan Harrington style super-tight play early on, which gives you the advantage of having the best hand preflop and post flop, making decisions much easier for you in later rounds.

That situation however, requires you to play a long-ball style of game, being rather predictable. It’s not a poor, or even ineffective strategy by any means, but a sure pick-off for bluffs, and limiting small pots.

So when applying the Gap concept to your play, there are definitely other considerations to take into your counter-play adjustments. One of the major factors to is who you are actually playing against. What is the table collective on the tight/aggressive scale? What type of player are you up against? Is he maniac like, and how many times has he raised? Is it a standard late position steal?

The stage of the poker tournament also dictates strategy changes that rank of desperation. For example, against a short stack coming in with an all-in raise from late position, I would consider calling with many more hands than normal, even if I figure to be an underdog. I just want to avoid being dominated here, not at all the normal Gap Concept restrictions.

Another time I consider calling raises is when I am holding mid pairs and suited connectors when I am late in position, and the pot has terrific odds. When I say terrific odds, I mean a minimum six to one. That way, it will be a profitable play, for the early stages.

In short, consider applying the gap concept in the early stages of the tournament and against known professional poker tournament players. You don’t want to get caught in a post flop guessing game against them.