[ungarstu132]

Originally Posted by frob23 It should probably be noted that the gap concept applies much more strongly for tournament play and that it applies to more than just Hold'em. In almost any game, you need a stronger hand to call than you would to open raise. In extremely loose games there might be no gap but beyond that, it should play a role in your hand selection. How large of a role is based on the magnitude of the gap. Where the stacks are especially deep, people aren't worried about going broke, and where you can rebuy... the gap is not going to be very large. The reason the much larger gap exists in a tournament is because players are less likely to play weak hands and risk going broke with them. In limit tournaments, the gap concept is so strong that it becomes almost certainly wrong to limp with any hand you would open with (barring extremely weird circumstance). This doesn't fully apply in NL because you don't know how much a raise might cost you but you should still lean towards open raising any hand you would be willing to play. Also this applies not just for calling a raise. ". . . in a tournament it is often right to open raise with hands far inferior to those you would need to call someone else who open raised." -Sklansky in "Tournament Poker For Advanced Players" [emphasis mine] Basically, you should be raising with weaker hands than you could call with if someone open raised from that same position. This is the real power of the gap concept. Understanding that you need to have stricter calling requirements because of the gap is simple. But you need to have looser open raising requirements because of that same gap and because gap-aware players will be unable to call without strong hands. Also, the gap concept applies less when the people at your table are unaware of it and are likely to open weak. Those same players, who are not aware of the gap concept, will also call more often so you will need to tighten your open raising requirements back up. Knowing if your opponents are aware of the gap concept is especially important in determining how strong the gap might be. In the same respect, if a player on your right is obviously very aware of the gap concept when it comes to open raising then you might need to lower your standards to call because his actual gap is less than normal. I use the gap concept all the time, although cautiously at the start of a tournament when open raising until I get a feel for the table.

thanx for the reply, and i agree completly..

any other opinions...??