🚀 The push/fold zone
short-stack poker is simpler — play it right
When your tournament stack gets short — roughly 15 big blinds or fewer — the game simplifies to a single decision: move all-in, or fold. Push/fold poker is mathematically solved, and playing it correctly is one of the highest-value skills in tournaments. This lesson covers the zone and how to play it.
Under about 10 big blinds, the strongest play is usually the simplest: all-in or fold. A normal raise commits a third of your stack — you can never fold after it, but it still lets opponents play perfectly against you. Shoving takes the half-measures off the table.
The shove has two engines. Fold equity: everyone might fold and you collect blinds and antes — a 10%+ stack pay rise with no showdown. And protection: called, you still see all five cards with no more decisions to get wrong.
How wide to shove depends on seat and stack: from the button with 8bb, any pair, any ace, and plenty of paint hands are standard jams; from first position the range tightens sharply. And calling a shove needs a much stronger hand than shoving yourself — the caller has zero fold equity.
💡 Key idea: a short stack that keeps jamming is alive and dangerous. A short stack that keeps folding is just choosing the slow version of busting.
Short-stacked, raising small and folding to a re-raise wastes chips you can’t afford, and calling leaves you guessing on later streets you don’t have chips to play. Shoving all-in fixes both: it maximizes fold equity (opponents can’t float or outplay an all-in) and removes every post-flop decision. First-in with a playable hand, the jam is almost always better than a small open.
The ranges are known. Around 10–15 big blinds you jam a wide range from late position — any pair, most aces, many suited broadways — and tighten from early seats. Under about 8 big blinds, position matters less and you shove very wide because the blinds are worth so much relative to your stack. Charts exist for exact ranges; the drill in this lesson deals real spots so you can build the feel.
Questions
When should you play push/fold in a tournament?
Roughly at 15 big blinds or fewer, and especially under 10. At that depth, moving all-in or folding beats small raises — it maximizes fold equity and removes tricky post-flop decisions you don’t have chips to handle.
What hands should I shove short-stacked?
From late position at 10–15 big blinds, a wide range: any pair, most aces, and many suited broadways. Tighten from early position. Under 8 big blinds you can shove even wider because the blinds are so valuable.