Q9o from SB with 10bb — push or fold?
The answer
Push
all-in
The math: 10bb · shove or fold. Q9 is a clear jam.
Why
At 10 big blinds there's no stack left to play a real pot, so it's shove or fold. Queen-nine is plenty strong to jam here. Most of the time the big blind folds and you scoop the blinds for free. When you do get called, you're rarely in bad shape: two decent cards that can pair up or make a straight. Raising small then folding just wastes chips. Push and take it.
The spot
- Your seat
- SB
- Stakes and stacks
- 500 / 1,000 · 10bb
- Your hand
- Q♥ 9♦
- Board
- Preflop — no board yet
- Pot
- POT · 1,500
- Action on you
- Folded to you
Every option
Foldgive it up
Why not: Folding feels safe because Queen-nine isn't premium, but at 10bb that caution costs you free money. It steals the blinds most of the time, and when it's called you've still got two live cards. Folding here quietly bleeds your stack.
Pushall-inCorrect
The idea behind it
Under about 15 big blinds, poker becomes push-or-fold: you shove all-in or fold, because there's no stack left to play a real pot after the flop. From the small blind, folded to you, the shoving range is very wide — most two decent cards are a profitable jam.
Concept: Push or fold
Terms in this spot
Play it instead of reading it
The trainer deals this hand with hints, grading and spaced repetition — and randomized variations of it once you have seen it.