The Gap Concept in Poker

The “Gap Concept” was first introduced to the poker world by professional writer David Sklansky.In simple terms it suggests that it takes a much better hand to call a raise than to make the first raise.

This distance does change of course. When a tight player opens a pot the distance increases and you need a much better hand to consider calling. Whereas when a LAG(loose aggressive) player opens you can call with a larger range of hands. The size of the “gap” is of course decided by yourself given what you know about the original raiser and the table dynamics.

The 'Gap' essentially describes the distance in strength between the original raiser's hand and the hand contemplating calling the raise.