Tournament Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
You Need a Stronger Hand to Call than to Raise
You Need a Stronger Hand to Call than to Raise In general, you need a stronger hand to call a raise than you do to raise, assuming you are the first person to raise the pot. This was coined the “gap concept” by David Sklansky. As a simple example, you would certainly raise A-3 from the button if everyone folded to you, but if someone raised in front of you, you would usually fold the hand without a second thought. You need a stronger hand to call than to raise because when you raise pre-flop, you have two ways to win the hand. You can either bluff your opponents out of the pot as the aggressor, or you can make the best hand. If you are the caller, you generally have to hit some sort of hand to win the pot unless you decide to run a large bluff.
As the stacks get deeper, the gap concept goes out the window.
As the stacks get deeper, the gap concept goes out the window. If a weak opponent with 1,000BBs raises from the cutoff and you are on the button, you can call with a very wide range because you will be able to bluff your opponent on almost any board, allowing you to play most hands profitably, at least until your opponent realizes you are taking advantage of him. If you had 10BBs, you would certainly go all-in with K-6 from the button if everyone folded to you, but you would rarely call a button push with K-6 if you were in the big blind with the same stack. This concept will help define the range of hands you can play in any situation. Keep it in mind whenever you consider calling a raise.