Another way to look at gaps, that might make it easier for you to grasp, is
how many cards you simply Have To Get to fill the straight. Four examples:
1. In your 5-7-9 scenario, you have to get a 6 and an 8, no exceptions. Two
gaps.
2. For the 5-7-8, you have to get a 6, then you can get EITHER a 4 or a 9.
One gap.
3. If you have a 5-6-7, there is no single card that you have to get because
many combinations of 3, 4, 8, and 9 will work. No gaps.
4. In Mr. Robertson's A-K-J example, you have to get a Q and a 10, so it's
technically two gaps even though it only looks like one gap (nothing can connect
above the A). The same thing happens with a A-3-4, you have to get a 2 and
a 5, so two gaps. As I told a friend while teaching him PickEm, if there's an
A in the deal, it's two gaps and that's that.
All the above assumes you're playing a non-wild game.
- Brian in MI
In a message dated 3/30/2006 4:08:26 AM Eastern Standard Time,
thomasrrobertson@earthlink.net writes:
>Aloha,
>
>I play Double Bonus Poker, and I'm having a hard time understanding
>gaps (which are referenced in VP Strategy Master in several
>instances when there are three cards to a straight flush).
>
>First, I'm having a hard time discerning between one and two gaps.
>In the following scenarios, when is there one gap and when are there
>two gaps?
>
>579 suited
>
>578 suited
>
>589 suited
>
>Second, I'm having a hard time understanding why there is a
>statistical difference between one and two gaps.
>
>Aren't the odds of receiving the two cards needed to get a straight
>exactly the same whether there are one or two gaps?
>
>Can someone please enlighten me?
>
>Mahalo!How many gaps there are should be seen as how many cards the hand
doesn't have between the highest card in the draw and the lowest card
in the draw. If the hand is 579, it's missing 2 cards (a 6 and an 8),
so there are 2 gaps. 578 only has 1 gap (a 7). The way you've
phrased your question may be a stumbling block for you. Asking about
the "odds of receiving the two cards needed to get a straight" implies
that there's only 1 way to make a straight in every case. I believe
the man who is responsible for inventing the word "scare" as it
applies to video poker also emphasized that "ways" is a better way to
look at straight draws than "gaps," since a hand such as 432 has no
gaps but only has as many ways to hit a straight as most hands with 1
gap do. I've always looked at such hands in terms of "gaps" rather
than "ways," but that requires the necessary adjustment of assuming
that the draw is at least 5-high and at least 10-low, so that a hand
such as AKJ, which has 1 gap, should be treated as if it's AKT, which
has 2.
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