Push Fold Charts

Push fold charts are pre-calculated hand ranges that tell you which hands to move all-in with from each table position when your stack reaches 15 big blinds or less in a poker tournament. They eliminate guesswork from one of the most misplayed phases in tournaments. I have used these charts to help thousands of students identify one of the most costly short-stack leaks in the game, whether shoving too wide because they feel desperate, or folding hands that should be profitable shoves out of fear of going all-in. You can study them in a browser or challenge yourself via our Push/Fold App to see how many correct answers you can get in a row.

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How To Use Push/Fold Charts

In my experience reviewing thousands of tournament hands, the single most common short-stack mistake I see is failing to use push/fold ranges at all. Players either shove too wide because they feel like they are going to bust anyway, or they tighten up drastically because they are afraid to go all-in and get called. Both approaches cost significant EV over the long run.

When your chip stack in a poker tournament dwindles to 15 big blinds or less, you are in a position to optimally move all-in preflop if you happen to have a strong enough hand in the right position. Despite the fact that push/fold charts incorporate putting your entire stack at risk, the preflop concepts behind such charts are no different from those you would adhere to in any other poker hand.

Your position at the poker table and its impact on your hand selection are basic principles most poker players reference. The later your position preflop, the wider your raising range, almost every poker player knows this! Push/fold charts lean heavily on this concept, with the added stipulation that you either go all-in or fold. Let’s consider an example.

Push Fold Charts Example: In the Hijack with 12 Big Blinds

You are playing in a poker tournament with no antes. You have 12 big blinds, and it folds to you in the hijack. With only 12 big blinds, you can strategically consider moving all-in preflop, but what hands should you do this with? According to our push/fold charts, you should move all-in with the following…

33+, A7s+, A5s-A4s, ATo+, K9s+, KJo+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s

If you have never used or seen a push/fold chart before, the information above may be somewhat perplexing, but don’t worry it is really quite simple!

33+ represents what pocket pairs you should move all-in preflop with 12 big blinds in the hijack. Clearly, pocket threes are shown as being a good enough hand, but what does the “+” represent? If a hand on the chart has a “+” or “plus”, it means that any hand stronger than the hand listed is good enough to move all-in with. While pocket threes are strong enough to move all-in with in this particular spot, all pocket pairs “better” than pocket threes are strong enough to move all-in as well (pocket fours, fives, sixes, and so on). Considering a hand like A-T, all A-x combos A-T and better (A-J, A-Q, and A-K) are, in turn, also strong enough to move all-in with.

Rather than write out every single hand combination that is strong enough to shove with, the inclusion of a “+” makes push/fold charts easier to format and follow.

Along with “+”, you likely also noticed the inclusion of “s” and “o” alongside some of the other listed hands. For reference, o = offsuit hands and s = suited hands. Naturally, suited hands are usually much stronger than offsuit ones, with this concept being illustrated in the hijack’s preflop shoving range with 12 big blinds.

When referencing push/fold charts, be sure to note when specific hands are excluded from your all-in range. In some cases, certain hands that you may assume are all-in hands turn out to either be hands you should fold or limp with. Returning to the hijack with 12 big blinds example, look closely at what suited aces are shoved with: A7s+, A5s-A4s.

Notice how A-6 suited is excluded from the hijack’s preflop shoving range? Without paying close attention when studying push/fold charts, such details can be easily overlooked and lead to mistakes.

Position is Everything

One thing I emphasize constantly in hand reviews is that most players dramatically underestimate how much wider their shoving range should be from the button versus under the gun. The difference is not small. A look at the chart comparison below makes the point more clearly than any explanation I could give.

Along with stack size, your position at the poker table is a prominent factor in deciding what hands to go all-in with when short-stacked preflop. Reexamining our prior example of 12 big blinds in the hijack, let’s compare how our shoving range is affected when we have the same stack size under-the-gun (UTG).

12 Big Blinds in the Hijack (no ante): 33+, A7s+, A5s-A4s, ATo+, K9s+, KJo+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s

12 Big Blinds UTG (no ante): TT+, ATs+, A5s-A3s, AQo+, KJs+, QJs

Notice how much tighter your all-in range is UTG than in the hijack? While you can optimally shove pocket pairs that are threes and better in the hijack, when UTG, your pocket pair range is constricted to pocket tens and better. The big takeaway: just like when you are playing medium or deep stacked, your preflop range is tighter in early position and gradually opens up in later ones.

While remembering proper all-in ranges for so many different positions can seem daunting, with study and practice, they can easily be implemented.

ICM and Bubble Adjustments: When to Deviate From the Charts

Push fold charts assume every player at the table is maximizing chip EV. But in real tournaments, your opponents are trying to maximize their payout, not just their chip count. This creates situations where deviating from the chart is the correct play.

The clearest example I can share from my own experience is bubble play. When I have 5 big blinds left, and we are three spots from the money with several big stacks at the table, I will sometimes fold hands the chart says to shove.

My fold equity is close to zero against big stacks who have nothing to lose by calling me, and surviving even one more hand could mean the difference between cashing and missing the money entirely. In this spot, folding a hand that loses chip EV but gains money EV is the right ICM decision.

The reverse also applies. As the big stack near the bubble, you can often shove much wider than the charts indicate, because medium stacks are protecting their tournament life and will fold far more than optimal strategy calls for. I have stolen entire antes simply by moving all-in with 25 to 30 big blinds against players who technically had the odds to call but could not afford the risk of busting before the money.

At the final table, ICM pressure intensifies even further. With a middling stack and shorter stacks still alive, I will tighten considerably from the base charts, because moving up the payout ladder is often worth more than the chip EV I would gain by playing looser.

PokerCoaching’s own solver, PeakGTO, lets you run ICM-adjusted push/fold analysis for specific final table and bubble spots, so you can study the exact deviations that apply to your situation rather than relying on the base Nash charts alone.

Make Sure You Are Using The Correct Push Fold Charts!

To get the most out of push/fold charts, you must know how to use and study them properly. When using the push/fold charts found on PokerCoaching.com, make sure you are using the correct charts. What do I mean by correct?

Examining the charts below, you will see there are four different charts labeled by ante size. When playing in a poker tournament, it is critical that you take note of the ante sizes in play when making decisions in a hand. When antes are in play, your preflop shoving range should be wider as opposed to when they are not. Additionally, your preflop shoving range should be even wider if ante sizes happen to be larger.

By referencing a chart that does not account for the relevant ante size, you may be costing yourself a lot of EV in the long run by not adhering to an optimized push/fold strategy.

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How To Properly Study Push Fold Charts

What I tell students when they ask how to study push/fold situations effectively: there are two phases of study. The first is memorization, drilling yourself on correct ranges from every position and stack depth until the decisions become automatic.

The second, which most players skip entirely, is understanding why the ranges are what they are. Both matter, and they require different tools.

While many of the resources used are the same, the best way for a poker player to study effectively is heavily dependent on the player. When formulating a study plan, recognize what works for you specifically and what helps you best retain information for later use.

When it comes to studying preflop charts, there are a number of different methods at your disposal, especially if you are a PokerCoaching.com member!

Reviewing Past Poker Tournament Hands

To improve as a poker player, it is critical that you review past hands played at the poker table. If you are an online poker player, the vast majority of sites record your hand histories and allow you to access them for a certain amount of time, depending on the site.

Additionally, programs like PokerTracker 4 not only track your hands, but also note your results as you look for leaks and areas to improve your play. If you play live poker tournaments, make a habit out of noting significant hands, whether it be on your phone or with a notepad and pen.

After you bust or if you are on break in a poker tournament, take the time to review the above push/fold charts if you encountered an all-in preflop spot.

Within seconds, you can learn whether you made the correct play or not, depending on your position and stack size. The more experience you gain from doing this, the better you will perform when short-stacked preflop.

Quiz Yourself Using The PokerCoaching.com App

The Push/Fold Quizzes found on the PokerCoaching.com App allow users to quiz themselves on a variety of preflop spots.

For the second phase of the study, which includes understanding why ranges are structured as they are, I recommend using PeakGTO, PokerCoaching’s own solver.

You can input a specific stack depth, position, and ante size and see the solver output directly. More importantly, you can add ICM pressure, adjust for final table payouts, and watch how push/fold ranges shift based on payout structure and the stack distribution at the table. This transforms the charts from something you memorize into something you genuinely understand.

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Calling Ranges: What Your Opponents Need to Call Your Shoves

Understanding push/fold charts from the shoving perspective is only half of the short-stack picture. When a player shoves into you, knowing whether to call is just as important as knowing when to shove yourself.

Calling ranges are tighter than shoving ranges. When you are considering calling an all-in from the big blind with 15 big blinds in your stack, you need a significantly stronger hand than the player shoving would need to open all-in from the same spot.

The risk is asymmetric: the shover can win the pot uncontested when everyone folds, while the caller must go to showdown and risk their entire stack knowing the shover has at minimum a playable hand.

As a general starting point, I recommend students calling all-in shoves from the big blind with premium pairs, strong aces, and top broadways like king-queen. The exact thresholds shift considerably based on the shover’s position, their stack depth, the ante size, and ICM implications at the table.

Developing your calling intuition alongside your shoving game makes you a significantly more complete short-stack player. PokerCoaching’s solver, PeakGTO (peakgto.com), includes calling range analysis for both full-table and heads-up scenarios, letting you study both sides of every all-in spot.

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Conclusion: Use Push Fold Charts To Make The Best Preflop Decisions

Of all the leaks I have fixed in student games over the years, short-stack mistakes are among the fastest to correct and the highest impact on results. A player who knows the correct push/fold ranges does not need to make decisions under pressure; they have already made them in study.

Throughout a poker tournament, a player’s chip stack fluctuates with the game’s swings. Especially in large-field poker tournaments, the eventual winner rarely maintains a huge stack throughout the entire event. In the vast majority of poker tournaments you play in, you will need to make a preflop decision for your whole chip stack at some point.

To obtain the edge you need to make final tables and win poker tournaments, allocate time to studying push/fold charts. By grasping the impact position and stack size have on your ability to go all-in preflop, you can make +EV decisions that will grow your bankroll over time.