Why the Poker Disappears
With 60 big blinds, you can raise, see a flop, bet, and still fold if things go wrong. With 10 big blinds, a normal raise puts a quarter of your stack in the middle. If you then fold to a re-raise, you’ve lost a huge chunk for nothing. If you call, you’re committed anyway.
So short stacks stop raising. They move all-in or fold. That sounds crude, but it’s correct: shoving gives you two ways to win (everyone folds, or you win the showdown), and it can’t be exploited by a re-raise.
The Threshold
Most players switch to push/fold at 10–12 big blinds. Between 12 and 20 big blinds you’re in a gray zone — you can still open-raise from late position, but you should be shoving over other people’s raises rather than calling.
If you like a single number, Dan Harrington’s “M” (your stack divided by the cost of one full orbit of blinds and antes) gives the same signal. An M below 5 means you’re shoving.
Shoving Ranges Depend on Position
The later your position, the fewer players can wake up with a hand, and the wider you can shove. Rough guidance at 10 big blinds, nine-handed:
| Position | Shove with… |
|---|---|
| Under the gun | Any pair 66+, AT+, KQ |
| Middle | Any pair, A8+, KJ+, QJ |
| Cutoff | Any pair, any ace, K9+, QT+, JT, T9s |
| Button | Any pair, any ace, K5+, Q8+, J8+, most suited connectors |
| Small blind (vs. big blind only) | Extremely wide — roughly any two cards better than 7-2 offsuit, depending on the opponent |
These get wider as your stack shrinks (at 6 big blinds you shove much more) and tighter if the players behind you are calling stations who won’t fold.
Shove Wide, Call Tight
Here’s the asymmetry players get wrong. When you shove, opponents often fold, so a mediocre hand still wins the blinds and antes. When you call a shove, no one is folding — you must be a favorite (or close) at showdown.
That means your calling range should be dramatically tighter than your shoving range. With 10 big blinds on the button, you might shove K♠7♠. Facing a shove from a tight player, you’d fold it without a thought and call only with pairs and big aces.
Don’t Wait for Aces
Blinds and antes are eating your stack every hand. At 10 big blinds with a big blind ante in play, a full orbit costs you around 20–25% of your chips. Waiting three orbits for a premium hand leaves you with 4 big blinds and no fold equity — at which point even aces are just a coin flip that everyone will call. Shoving a marginal hand now, while the shove still makes people fold, is better than shoving a great hand later when it doesn’t.
When the Bubble Changes the Math
Near a payout bubble, survival has value beyond chips. The medium stacks tighten up because busting before the short stacks is a disaster. If you’re the short stack, this is not the time to get creative — the big stacks are shoving on the medium stacks, and the medium stacks are folding. Pick genuine hands. If you’re a big stack, this is exactly when you shove relentlessly on players who can’t afford to call.
Summary
- Under about 12 big blinds: all-in or fold. Stop raising.
- Later position = wider shoving range.
- Shove wide, call tight — calling has no fold equity.
- Don’t wait for premiums; the blinds will eat you first.
- On the bubble, big stacks attack and short stacks pick real hands.