Push or Fold

When my stack gets short in tournaments, I often struggle with push-fold spots. Under 15bb it feels like there’s no room left to play postflop, so every hand is basically all-in or nothing.

I know charts exist for this, but it’s not always so simple – position, ICM, and how loose/tight the table is can completely change things. For example, sometimes I feel like I should shove wider when opponents fold too much, but other times I’m not sure if I’m being reckless.

Do you guys stick to push-fold charts, or do you mostly adjust based on the players around you?

You can still raise 2 BB with 15 BB all the way down to 10 BB and still fold to a 3 bet, or you can just shove under 15 BB. The charts are there and they do show profitable hands and spots to shove when you are short stacked, so study them and don’t make it too complicated when you get super short, the game becomes a lot easier at that point because you really only have one move left, shove.

with a 15bb stack with a strong hand, I'll go push, if it's a medium strength hand, then you can safely play 2bb

babyrosejr said:

Under 15bb it feels like there’s no room left to play postflop, so every hand is basically all-in or nothing.

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That's one of the reasons why shortstack GTO limps exist. Though under 10 bigs it's always push/fold with small AA-focused limping ranges at 9BB deep.

There are no charts for this because ICM introduces extra variables, you need to practice with an ICM tool.

primrose said:

There are no charts for this because ICM introduces extra variables, you need to practice with an ICM tool.

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This, just review your hands after each game for icm errors.

Make sure to adjust the villans range if you dont agree with their input.