progressPush/fold strategy for short stacks
When you have 8 to 15 big blinds, the choice usually comes down to two buttons.
With a short stack the question stops being "how do I play this hand after the flop?" and becomes "do I move all-in now, or fold?" That is push/fold. It is simpler than deep-stack poker, but it has a big payoff, because short stacks are where many tournament decisions are worth the most.
Why a shove beats a small raise
With 8 to 10 big blinds, a raise to 2 big blinds puts a fifth of your stack in the pot. If someone shoves over it, you have to fold or call off anyway, and you have paid for the chance. A shove wins the blinds and antes immediately when everyone folds, forces opponents to decide for their tournament life, and removes the postflop skill advantage you would otherwise have to rely on.
How often the solution book plays all-in or raise
Share of hands the book opens (raise plus all-in) when it folds to the position, in an 8-max tournament with ante:
| Stack | UTG | HJ | CO | BTN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 BB | 18% | 31% | 35% | 45% |
| 10 BB | 16% | 28% | 33% | 42% |
| 12 BB | 16% | 25% | 32% | 40% |
| 15 BB | 16% | 24% | 30% | 39% |
Two things stand out. UTG barely moves between 8 and 15 BB (16% to 18%), and the button opens roughly four hands in ten. Position matters much more than stack depth in this zone.
Which hands shove from the button at 10 BB?
The solution book always goes all-in with: AA, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, AJs, AJo, ATs, ATo, A9s, A9o, A8s, A8o, A7s, A7o, A6s, A6o, A5s, A5o, A4s, A4o, A3s, A3o, A2s, A2o, KK, KQs, KQo, KJs, KJo, KTs, KTo, K9s, K9o, K8s, K8o, K7s, K7o, K6s, K5s, K4s, K3s, K2s, QQ, QJs, QJo, QTs, QTo, Q9s, Q9o, Q8s, Q7s, Q6s, Q5s, JJ, JTs, JTo, J9s, J9o, J8s. Other hands are mixed or folded.
The four things that move the line
- Position. Fewer players left to act behind you means fewer chances to run into a call, so ranges widen toward the button.
- Antes. They raise the pot you steal, so every position shoves more with an ante than without.
- Players behind you. A shove into a short-stacked big blind is worth less than into a deep one that must pay a lot to call.
- ICM. Near a payout jump, shove ranges against stacks that cannot call get wider and call ranges get tighter. See bubble factor.
Practice rather than memorise
Charts help, but tables are hard to remember. The push/fold charts show every position from 3 to 15 BB, and the free push/fold trainer in the app asks you to decide hand by hand and explains the cost of mistakes.
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Related guides
Questions
At what stack should I switch to push/fold?
Roughly under 10 to 12 big blinds the best play is mostly all-in or fold. Between 12 and 20 big blinds small raises still appear, mainly with hands that like a call.
Do antes change shove ranges?
Yes. Antes make the pot you can win bigger, so shove ranges are wider than in a game without antes.
Are these charts exact?
They come from our own equilibrium approximation with a modelled postflop, not an exact solution.
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progressGTO guides use our own solution book (v13, 8-max tournaments with ante, chip EV): an approximation of equilibrium with a modelled postflop, not an exact solution. Numbers are computed from the book and from the exact ICM model.
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