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Once your tournament stack drops below 15bb, there’s little room to play postflop, and the default becomes push (all-in) or fold. How well you run push/fold strongly affects your deep-run rate.
Why push/fold?
A normal raise (2bb) when short builds a pot that’s large relative to your remaining stack, crushing your postflop options. It’s more efficient to jam and maximize fold equity from the start — that’s the push/fold idea.
Nash ranges as a baseline
Push/fold has precomputed game-theory baselines — Nash ranges — for jamming and calling. Rough guides:
| Stack | BTN jam (approx.) |
|---|---|
| 10bb | ~40–50% (wide) |
| 15bb | ~25–35% |
| ≤7bb | 50%+ (very wide) |
The later your position (BTN/CO) and the fewer players left, the wider you jam. From UTG, tighten to strong hands.
Which hands jam best
- Pocket pairs — stable equity even when called.
- Ax — ace-blocker reduces their calls.
- Suited Kx / broadways — playability plus blockers.
Low offsuit hands (72o, 83o) stay in the muck unless extremely short.
Don’t forget ICM
Nash ranges maximize chip EV; with money on the line (bubble, final table), apply ICM corrections and tighten further. The caller takes on more risk, so they can only call with hands far stronger than the jamming range. That asymmetry is exactly why short stacks profit by jamming.
Summary
At ≤15bb, default to “jam or fold,” not “raise when unsure.” Wider from late position, tighter from early, and tighter still under ICM on the bubble. Drill Nash ranges in a tool like ICMIZER and your short-stack results improve a lot.
Related reading
This article was prepared by the Poker GTO Lab editorial team for educational purposes, drawing on widely published solver outputs, training content, and preflop charts. The ranges and frequencies shown are representative tendencies; the true optimum depends on stack depth, opponents, and table rules. This site does not promote gambling.