No-Limit Hold'em · Tournament

Stack-Depth Hand Chart

Ranges shift with your stack · pick your depth, tap any hand
↖ Suited above the diagonalOffsuit below ↘
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Tournament poker is three different games. Deep you play poker, medium you attack, short you shove or fold — the toggle above switches all three.

Quick Math — Stack Depth Runs Everything

The first number in every tournament decision isn't your cards — it's your stack in big blinds. Recount it every time the blinds go up.

1
Know your zone.
40bb+ — full poker: set-mine, see flops, use position.
25–40bb — careful poker: open smaller, avoid bloated pots without big hands.
15–25bb — attack: steal, 3-bet shove over opens, no set-mining.
≤10bb — shove or fold. Nothing in between. Ever.
2
Why steals print money with antes. Blinds + antes ≈ 2.5bb dead in every pot. A 2.2bb open only needs to work about half the time to profit before the flop is even dealt.
3
Pot odds still rule the called pots. Rule of 2 & 4 (outs × 2 one card, × 4 all-in on the flop). Facing an all-in, count the price: calling 8bb to win a 20bb pot = 8 ÷ 28 ≈ 29% equity needed — even a flip has you covered.
All-in matchupRough equity
Pair vs. two overcards (99 vs. AK)55 / 45 — the flip
Overpair vs. underpair80 / 20
Dominating ace (AK vs. AQ)70 / 30
Any ace vs. two live cards (A5 vs. 87s)~55 / 45
4
ICM in one line: chips you lose are worth more than chips you win. Near the bubble and at the final table, calling all-ins needs a much bigger hand than shoving does — the pressure belongs to the shover.

Satellite warning: in satellites (win-a-seat formats), ICM goes to the extreme — with a seat nearly locked up, fold almost everything, including hands as big as QQ facing an all-in. Surviving IS the prize.

The Drill — Shove or Fold?

You're at 10bb or less, folded to you. Shove or fold, graded against the short-stack chart above.

Score 0/0 Streak 0

Top 10 — Solid Tournament Poker

  1. Count your stack in big blinds, always. Every blind level changes your strategy even if your chip count doesn't move. The zones in the math section are the whole game plan.
  2. At ≤10bb there are two buttons: shove and fold. Min-raising or limping short leaves you priced in with junk and lets opponents realize equity against you. All-in is your strongest weapon — it can't be outplayed.
  3. Steal relentlessly once antes kick in. ~2.5bb of dead money sits in every pot. Open small (2–2.2x), attack tight blinds from late position, and let the math print.
  4. Reshove beats calling at 15–25bb. Jamming over a late-position open wins the dead money plus fold equity; flat-calling just plays a bloated pot out of position. Attack the openers, don't join them.
  5. No set-mining shallow. The rule of 15 needs 15x the call behind — at 20bb it doesn't exist. Small pairs become shove/reshove hands, not call-and-hope hands.
  6. ICM: shove wide, call tight. Near the bubble, the risk belongs to the caller. Keep applying pressure with shoves, but calling off your stack needs a monster — especially against shorter stacks you cover.
  7. Respect the flip math. Pair vs. overcards is 55/45. Fine when you're shoving with fold equity on top; terrible when you're calling for your tournament life. Same hand, different EV.
  8. Defend your big blind with the discount, fold the flop without a piece. You're getting a great price to see three cards — take it wide, then get out cheap when you miss. The leak isn't the call, it's the spew after.
  9. Pick fights by stack size. Attack medium stacks who can't afford to bust; stay out of the big stack's way; note that desperate short stacks shove anything — call them wider.
  10. Play for the win, respect the ladder. Chips win tournaments and passivity bleeds them — but when one bust-out is a real pay jump (or a satellite seat), survival math overrides card math. Know which mode you're in before the hand starts.