Cea

What is the Gap Concept in Poker and How to Beat It

You don't want to get in the habit of being a limper. Players like to see flops cheap when they have hands like suited connectors, small pairs, middle pairs, and those trouble hands like K-J and Q-J. While you want to vary your play, always think raise first. And, if you are past the middle rounds, don't even think of calling. If your hand is good enough to play, it's good enough to raise.

The advantage to being the first raiser in a hand is that you are using the Gap Concept. What is the Gap Concept?

The Gap Concept is the idea that you need a better hand to play against someone who has already raised in front of you. The thinking is that players want to avoid situations where someone has already shown strength, unless they know they have a really strong hand. It is the thinking of a player who wants to survive a tournament. But, if you play to survive, you will surely die.

Don't look to preserve your chips, look to accumulate chips. Use the Gap Concept to your advantage. If you notice players behind you folding too often to pre-flop raises, you should widen your range of starting hands and be the first to raise.

Importantly, if you notice a player in front of you raising too often, realize that this player may be using the Gap Concept to his advantage and probably doesn't need a strong hand to enter the pot first with a raise. Look to re-raise this player with calling hands. Make him fear your hand.

Counter the player using the Gap Concept with a re-raise. It will get him to fold his hand.

This is just one of 101 winning moves the online car insurance pros use to win a poker tournament. Find out if you know these winning moves and take the Free Poker Evaluation at www.apokerexpert.com">http://www.apokerexpert.com

Mitchell Cogert is the author of "Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves." After reviewing over 20 years worth of poker materials with heads-up battles against poker pros, he has identified the car insurance qoutes 101 expert plays used by the pros. His other poker book "Play Razz Poker to Win" was selected by PokerStars IntelliPoker to be used on their site and translated for their international website. For more information www.apokerexpert.com">http://www.apokerexpert.com

posted by biibj @ 3:32 AM