Which hands to move all-in with when the pot is unopened and the stack is short — by seat, from 5 to 20 big blinds, and heads-up. Solved here, published as text.
A push or fold chart says, for one stack depth and one seat, which hands go all-in in an unopened pot and which go in the muck. Below roughly fifteen big blinds this is not a simplification of strategy — it is the whole of it, because there is no stack left to play a flop with.
Every chart below is solved on this site and published twice: as a grid you can read at a glance, and as one line of range notation you can copy, paste or have read aloud.
The share of all starting hands each seat moves all-in with at equilibrium, in an unopened pot. The last column is how often the big blind calls a button jam.
| Stack | UTG | MP | CO | BTN | SB | BB calls BTN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 bb | 24.3% | 27.3% | 31.8% | 38.5% | 68.9% | 43.6% |
| 8 bb | 15.4% | 20.7% | 27.6% | 33.6% | 59.6% | 27.9% |
| 10 bb | 13.1% | 17.5% | 24.9% | 32.1% | 56.6% | 22.2% |
| 12 bb | 12.4% | 13.7% | 22.5% | 30.6% | 51.1% | 18.9% |
| 15 bb | 8.5% | 12.7% | 17.2% | 27.0% | 43.3% | 15.4% |
| 20 bb | 6.5% | 8.5% | 13.4% | 24.3% | 39.1% | 12.4% |
Percentages count combinations, not hand types, so an offsuit hand weighs three times a suited one — the way a deck does. Hands whose edge is too small to matter are left out and listed separately on each chart.
Open to two and a half big blinds with twelve behind and you have put a fifth of your stack into a pot you cannot play after the flop. Fold to a re-raise and the raise was money thrown away; call it and you are all-in anyway, with a hand you never chose to go all-in with.
So the raise stops making sense and two actions are left. Shove, and either the blinds are yours uncontested or you race for your tournament life. Fold, and you keep what you have. The charts say which hands are worth the race from which seat.
The band runs from about five big blinds to about twenty. Below five, nearly everything shoves. Above twenty a normal raise starts to beat a jam again, because there is finally enough behind to play a flop with.
Folded to the button with ten big blinds — the most common short-stack decision in a tournament.
| High card | A | K | Q | J | T | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | AA — Shove | AKs — Shove | AQs — Shove | AJs — Shove | ATs — Shove | A9s — Shove | A8s — Shove | A7s — Shove | A6s — Shove | A5s — Shove | A4s — Shove | A3s — Shove | A2s — Shove |
| K | AKo — Shove | KK — Shove | KQs — Shove | KJs — Shove | KTs — Shove | K9s — Shove | K8s — Shove | K7s — Shove | K6s — Shove | K5s — Too close to matter | K4s — Fold | K3s — Fold | K2s — Fold |
| Q | AQo — Shove | KQo — Shove | QQ — Shove | QJs — Shove | QTs — Shove | Q9s — Shove | Q8s — Shove | Q7s — Fold | Q6s — Fold | Q5s — Fold | Q4s — Fold | Q3s — Fold | Q2s — Fold |
| J | AJo — Shove | KJo — Shove | QJo — Shove | JJ — Shove | JTs — Shove | J9s — Shove | J8s — Shove | J7s — Too close to matter | J6s — Fold | J5s — Fold | J4s — Fold | J3s — Fold | J2s — Fold |
| T | ATo — Shove | KTo — Shove | QTo — Shove | JTo — Shove | TT — Shove | T9s — Shove | T8s — Shove | T7s — Shove | T6s — Fold | T5s — Fold | T4s — Fold | T3s — Fold | T2s — Fold |
| 9 | A9o — Shove | K9o — Fold | Q9o — Fold | J9o — Fold | T9o — Too close to matter | 99 — Shove | 98s — Shove | 97s — Shove | 96s — Fold | 95s — Fold | 94s — Fold | 93s — Fold | 92s — Fold |
| 8 | A8o — Shove | K8o — Fold | Q8o — Fold | J8o — Fold | T8o — Fold | 98o — Fold | 88 — Shove | 87s — Shove | 86s — Too close to matter | 85s — Fold | 84s — Fold | 83s — Fold | 82s — Fold |
| 7 | A7o — Shove | K7o — Fold | Q7o — Fold | J7o — Fold | T7o — Fold | 97o — Fold | 87o — Fold | 77 — Shove | 76s — Shove | 75s — Fold | 74s — Fold | 73s — Fold | 72s — Fold |
| 6 | A6o — Shove | K6o — Fold | Q6o — Fold | J6o — Fold | T6o — Fold | 96o — Fold | 86o — Fold | 76o — Fold | 66 — Shove | 65s — Fold | 64s — Fold | 63s — Fold | 62s — Fold |
| 5 | A5o — Shove | K5o — Fold | Q5o — Fold | J5o — Fold | T5o — Fold | 95o — Fold | 85o — Fold | 75o — Fold | 65o — Fold | 55 — Shove | 54s — Fold | 53s — Fold | 52s — Fold |
| 4 | A4o — Shove | K4o — Fold | Q4o — Fold | J4o — Fold | T4o — Fold | 94o — Fold | 84o — Fold | 74o — Fold | 64o — Fold | 54o — Fold | 44 — Shove | 43s — Fold | 42s — Fold |
| 3 | A3o — Shove | K3o — Fold | Q3o — Fold | J3o — Fold | T3o — Fold | 93o — Fold | 83o — Fold | 73o — Fold | 63o — Fold | 53o — Fold | 43o — Fold | 33 — Shove | 32s — Fold |
| 2 | A2o — Shove | K2o — Fold | Q2o — Fold | J2o — Fold | T2o — Fold | 92o — Fold | 82o — Fold | 72o — Fold | 62o — Fold | 52o — Fold | 42o — Fold | 32o — Fold | 22 — Shove |
Each chart is the equilibrium of one clearly stated game: every stack the same depth, blinds of half a big blind and one big blind with no ante, and an unopened pot. Hero shoves or folds; each player behind calls or folds in turn; the first caller takes it heads-up. Both sides keep best-responding to the average of what the other has done until the strategies stop moving.
The equities underneath are ours rather than borrowed. Every one of the 169 starting-hand classes was run all-in against every other over a million random boards, and that table is what the solver reads. It sits in the repository next to the code that produced it.
Two things the model leaves out, deliberately. There is no ante, so with an ante in play every range widens. And only the first caller is modelled: nobody overcalls, and a caller decides as if the players behind it will fold. Both matter only for hands already sitting on the line — which is exactly why those hands are shaded rather than coloured in.
One more limit worth saying out loud: this is chip EV. In a tournament with a payout ladder, ICM tightens calling ranges sharply and shoving ranges much less. Near a pay jump, read the chart with the ICM calculator open beside it.
A table of which starting hands to move all-in with, and which to fold, when the pot is unopened and your stack is short. There is one chart per seat and stack depth, because the same hand that is a clear shove on the button is a fold under the gun.
Around fifteen big blinds, and it is the whole strategy by ten. The test is simple: if raising and then folding to a re-raise would cost you a meaningful slice of your stack, the raise was never really an option, so shove or fold instead.
The shape stays right but every range widens, because an ante adds dead money to the pot without adding to what you risk. These charts are solved without an ante, which makes them the conservative version: with an ante in play you can shove somewhat wider than they say.
No — they are chip EV, which is correct in a winner-take-all game and in the early stages of anything else. On a bubble or at a pay jump, ICM tightens calling ranges a long way and shoving ranges much less. Use the ICM calculator for those spots.