We have all found ourselves in this situation in poker tournaments. Shortstacked and in the position where our only real options are to shove all-in or fold. While you should definitely be opening your shove range, not surprisingly there are some guidelines you should consider in order to ensure you're making the right decions.

In this video Katie and Collin discuss three key shove or fold spots and the reasoning and calculations behind it:

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How do you handle your play when you are the shortstack ninja?

Originally Posted by Tammy

We have all found ourselves in this situation in poker tournaments. Shortstacked and in the position where our only real options are to shove all-in or fold. While you should definitely be opening your shove range, not surprisingly there are some guidelines you should consider in order to ensure you're making the right decions.

In this video Katie and Collin discuss three key shove or fold spots and the reasoning and calculations behind it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTc8hnxAyz8

How do you handle your play when you are the shortstack ninja?

Cool. is there a section of these videos?

Great video, the advice to the other shove has helped me a lot, especially when it is short stack.

With 20bb is still a little premature. You also need to evaluate the profile of the players and have a little patience in this moment, because who has more chips will probably try to put more pressure.

Originally Posted by bigpappa325

Cool. is there a section of these videos?

Not here on the forum, but all on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwAsu6PbAWoGQebT8qlgpGw

hi hi
thanks for the video .. is excellent!

Excellent video,i take a pic off the push ranges and i will print them,i allways have lots off dificulties when in push or fold position.

I didnt know CC had a youtube channel. I like the site reviews.

Originally Posted by acidburnfx

With 20bb is still a little premature. You also need to evaluate the profile of the players and have a little patience in this moment, because who has more chips will probably try to put more pressure.

They are talking about Nash equilibrium ranges for profitable pushes against a general population.

If you know for sure that someone is super-tight you can adjust by folding more when they raise. And open-push more (or even mini-raise).

And if you know that someone likes to bluff post (or overplay a hand post) you can trap and just call with say AA and KK.

But if you play against unknown players, or better players, this is a good starting point for a strategy that at least keeps you from being exploited. And is pretty close to optimal in most cases.

You can't cover every player type and situation in a 3 min video.

This was a terrific video. I really like that in this one they included the ranges for these shoves. This is one area of my game that I have been trying to improve because I am not a great short-stack player. I had a couple of players on my league team that were great at playing the short-stack but I think I learned a lot from this video. Keep up the good work guys.

The correct push / fold game, greatly affects the victory in the tournament, thank you. But I also like stop and go, as this slightly reduces the effect of variance.

Well, I don’t know, I understand that I’m not against the math, but I'm scared to play in such ranges, I always want to give my tournament life on my hand better. Maybe I'm playing too tight.

Hello, very well explained the push / fold when the batteries are small, I apply these tips in my game because I just think that sometimes eh played that way or similar to what has been explained.

Thanks xOneCoolHandx, Ammje, and others - We’re very glad you guys enjoyed this video!

Shove/fold poker is very important for sure and we’ve got more content we’re planning on this topic

And thanks Pentazepam for your insightful comments, you’re exactly right on that. These are good guidelines and ranges, but it’s possible to do better if you have good reads on your opponents and can play exploitively to take advantage of their specific tendencies.

very good video, good advice yet but with little stack, then I will follow this precious tips

Good job on yet another educative video.I think I need to get and study this "ICMizer" gimmick!

Originally Posted by Collin Moshman

And thanks Pentazepam for your insightful comments, you’re exactly right on that. These are good guidelines and ranges, but it’s possible to do better if you have good reads on your opponents and can play exploitively to take advantage of their specific tendencies.

That's why the only absolute truth in poker strategy is:

"It depends..."

Hi Katie and Collin, Shove or Fold, well being Shortstacked there are not many options you have, always the real options are going to push everything in or fold being Shortstacked, the position and strength of your hand will always make the reason for your decision , excellent video guys, you do know a lot about poker, greetings from Ecuador

Three situations in which we can play with our short stack, depending on whether a player has pushed before you while looking at the size of his stack and strength of our hand, to make the decision to go All In or Fold.

good video and def helps to have a chart when going through these spots. Faced a similar situation today in a CC game where CO opened and I stuck my 10bbs in with 33. I need to do more study on these spots.

Originally Posted by pentazepam

They are talking about Nash equilibrium ranges for profitable pushes against a general population.

If you know for sure that someone is super-tight you can adjust by folding more when they raise. And open-push more (or even mini-raise).

And if you know that someone likes to bluff post (or overplay a hand post) you can trap and just call with say AA and KK.

But if you play against unknown players, or better players, this is a good starting point for a strategy that at least keeps you from being exploited. And is pretty close to optimal in most cases.

You can't cover every player type and situation in a 3 min video.

All right. We must proceed from a mathematically reliable logic of actions, but adjust it for specific players at the table.

But I also agree with acidburnfx - 15-20 BB is still a pretty good stack to play not only on the push or fold strategy. It’s time to make such decisions when the stack becomes less than 10 BB.

Ranges seems a little bit loose to me. I don't know if I would shove 65s for 15bbs or K5s. I think it is better them as a raise-fold.

Also, I'd like to know how we should shove when there's no ante.

In these cases when I am short stacked and after many mtt levels, I search for cards that I can go all in and get back to the game. Especially after a bad beat which leads you behind many players in the game!

You guys are completely right: There are definitely times when you can be correct to deviate from these guidelines, such as when you’re facing passive and predictable players. They’re just good general strategy!

Without an ante, we recommend generally playing shove/fold with less than 10-12bb when first in, and less than 20bb over a raise (similar to when there is an ante in this case).

thanks a lot for this post Tammy I wasnt aware you had a youtube channel I will start seeing those videos right away i will comment later about them

Thank you for information ! Correct push / fold play strongly affects the victory in the tournament ! I even think that this is the main key to success!

an excellent video, but 15bb and 20bb is very little stack you need to flatten a little but your opponents, but as it is a shortstacked position and you feared 3 push and all in option, you will depend a lot on your hand to make your decision, if it's a good hand like AA all in if it's average like AKs AQs you push or fold

Thanks for the video, I have seen it two times and are still struggling to figure it out.
I will have to rerun it a couple of times

Thanks! And Anders if there’s anywhere you’re getting stuck, feel free to ask either here or in our AMA and we’d be happy to answer

Thanks for the advice! Any way us plebs could get access to that program "icm-izer"?

thank you for this training. not know tickles whether I have correctly use these advice, but my aura push-fold, leaves much to be desired.

For me, a good short stack strategy includes all-in for every suitable situation. Just because you have a short stack does not mean that you have less chance of winning a hand, it just means that you have to adapt your game a little to each situation.

Very nice video, for me thouse ranges are a litle louse,but i guess it is ok to shove them,in thouse spots you have a lot off fold equity.

The video seems like a very good intro into push/fold strategy for MTTs.

Whoever plays poker, had to have been in a spot where they were shortstacked and had very few options pre flop. I'd say that a lot more substance can be added to this topic.
For example, shoving ranges vs particular opponents, shoving ranges against particular stack sizes etc.
Regardless, following good old push fold charts is profitable in the long run for sure

Another thing I would like to see in the future videos is really putting the chart results into words many can understand.
We have seen how chart changes depending on whether everyone folded to us in the BU, if CO made a min bet or if CO shoved his super short stack. Next level is explaining why the chart changed the way it did.

Reason this is needed is for people who don't use charts and are not paying to use HUD or calculators... If they can understand the general idea behind the results, they would be able to "calculate" real time what hand should they shove/fold with in different spots.

Originally Posted by 33Elias33

Thanks for the advice! Any way us plebs could get access to that program "icm-izer"?

Glad the advice is helpful! Besides buying ICMizer, you can learn from it by doing the free trial and then cancelling, or getting a one-month subscription. Alternatively there are free tools which we talk about more in our upcoming course, including https://www.holdemresources.net/nashicm for shove/fold decisions.

Thanks for your advice! I never had problems with push, but they are observed with fold

Great video, nice tips... when I am short stack ninja lol, I wait and wait in 95% it's a good wait...

+ I don't use charts or HUD...

I don't handle playing short stack at all.
I blind out too much often.
I wait too luck to get the perfect hand to come back.
When I get and won it, it's too late.

Thank Katie and Collin for this great Video ...

I used to apply this situation when I was around 10BB or lesss Now I realize over these few months and with this video confirming it that it have to sooner around 20BB is already lot of situations wher is All in or Fold Poker thanks Learning lot from you guys loving the videos!!

Originally Posted by Miguel Chacon

Thank Katie and Collin for this great Video ...

I used to apply this situation when I was around 10BB or lesss Now I realize over these few months and with this video confirming it that it have to sooner around 20BB is already lot of situations wher is All in or Fold Poker thanks Learning lot from you guys loving the videos!!

Awesome improvement to your game, Miguel! I’m so glad to hear that you’ve made that adjustment, well done!

Thanks so much for the nice comments everyone!

Originally Posted by Tammy

We have all found ourselves in this situation in poker tournaments. Shortstacked and in the position where our only real options are to shove all-in or fold. While you should definitely be opening your shove range, not surprisingly there are some guidelines you should consider in order to ensure you're making the right decions.

In this video Katie and Collin discuss three key shove or fold spots and the reasoning and calculations behind it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTc8hnxAyz8

How do you handle your play when you are the shortstack ninja?

Great video, shoving is very important in poker , but not always , thank to this video , i learn a lot on how to do so and i m really happy as i m always improving my game thnx to CC and it videos and the great people in here .

Thank you so much K&C, the video and the replies above were very instructive. Looking forward to your incoming activities.

Thanks so much both of you. Great video! I've heard similar stuff but not stated in that way before and it makes a lot of sense. I think too many people only start shove or fold poker when they have 10BB regardless of antes and raises. Collin, I'm reading your book on sit and go strategy and learning a lot. I'm also working with ICMizer and it really opened my eyes to how wide it is correct to push or call with in certain situations. In the example where if someone raises before you and you are looking at a shove of 20 BB how much do you tighten up your shoving range given that you are facing a raise? I know it is opponent dependent, but generally? Also if you give your opponent an opening range of say 30 per cent, what kind of range should you have to shove over the top with? Top 20 per cent of hands? Is it useful to think in these terms - I want my range to be 10 % tighter than his opening range, or is it more useful to think about opponent's calling range after your shove? Thanks!

It is a key point when pushing everything in one hand or fold because in a crucial tournament you should know how to make the best decision, and good video and explain and teach us when making a shove or fold, it is always exciting to see how they help us with these videos should take the idea of ​​doing live classes

I hate playing with a short stack I'm just waiting for good hands to go all-in

Thanks for the video! The main lesson for me in this video : I have to pay more attantion to work with poker software)
One more thing: to my shame I only recently opened to myself that I have to play not so agressive in games without ante (all CC freerolls PokerStars) ))

I thought I had done this one , thank goodness I just caught it today !
Anyway , for whatever reason I find myself down to the last chips - whether I had a big oopsie or I had to sit out of the tournament , now I have to to see what luck I have in trying to stay in the game. So, with that said I just resign myself to the fact that I have to shove and let the chips fall where they may. Not much else you can do at this point.
In the cases of being disconnected , or having to sit out , and you just get back in online - then you haven't got a a "history " of what has been coming out - so that is a total stab in the dark going all in.
But if you had a big oopsie , then I try to shove when I get some decent cards if my stack will hold out that long.

Thank you for this video. Its definitely important to understand shove/fold strategy to run deep in an tournament when shortstacked. The advice hear is on point, but it is also important to adjust based on the tendencies (if you know them) of your opponents.

Loved the comments, congratulations.

I particularly have problems raising / folding, I need to adjust my shoort stack strategy.
I've been playing less screens and watching more spots to try to capture player information and thus use scenarios to my advantage.

I believe this 18bb to 25bb range has a good fold equity versus the wide open players, and when we call, in most cases we can be in front of the calling range or flip. I think it is a very lucrative move.
However we cannot do this in scenarios where the aggressor's range is minimal and we have little information. I believe I risk some scenarios with pockets pairs just by calling for set value, but I don't know if it's a good move. I like to pay mostly being out of position (blinds.)

Thanks so much for the extremely nice comments, everyone! Really means a lot and I’m so glad you’re enjoying these videos

Originally Posted by Amanda A

Thanks so much both of you. Great video! I've heard similar stuff but not stated in that way before and it makes a lot of sense. I think too many people only start shove or fold poker when they have 10BB regardless of antes and raises. Collin, I'm reading your book on sit and go strategy and learning a lot. I'm also working with ICMizer and it really opened my eyes to how wide it is correct to push or call with in certain situations. In the example where if someone raises before you and you are looking at a shove of 20 BB how much do you tighten up your shoving range given that you are facing a raise? I know it is opponent dependent, but generally? Also if you give your opponent an opening range of say 30 per cent, what kind of range should you have to shove over the top with? Top 20 per cent of hands? Is it useful to think in these terms - I want my range to be 10 % tighter than his opening range, or is it more useful to think about opponent's calling range after your shove? Thanks!

Thanks so much for your kind feedback and awesome questions, Amanda! Any chance you wouldn’t mind posting these questions in the AMA thread that Collin and I have stickied in the Tournament Poker forum? These are such great questions that I feel having them asked/answered there would allow more people to be helped by them as I imagine there are probably a lot of people out there wondering the same exact things! Thank you if you’re up for doing that!