Getting Started with Preflop+ Push/Fold Charts

The Moment Everything Changes: 15 Big Blinds and Falling

You have been grinding a $22 tournament for three hours. Now the blinds have caught up and you are staring at a 12 big blind stack. The cutoff folds, you are on the button with K9 offsuit, and the blinds are waiting. What do you do?

If your answer is "it depends on how I feel," you are leaving money on the table. Push/fold charts are the single most important tool for short-stacked tournament play, and Preflop+ puts solver-perfect charts in your pocket for every stack depth, every position, and every hand.

What Exactly Are Push/Fold Charts?

A push/fold chart is a precomputed decision matrix that answers one binary question: should I shove all-in or fold? The chart accounts for three variables: your hole cards, your stack size in big blinds, and your position at the table. These charts are derived from GTO solver calculations that model every possible opponent response. If you follow the chart perfectly, no opponent adjustment can make you lose money in the long run.

Push/fold decisions apply when your stack drops below roughly 15 big blinds. At this depth, raise-fold and raise-call options collapse. If you raise to 2.5x with a 10 big blind stack, you are committing a quarter of your chips, essentially pot-committed. The chart simplifies the decision to its mathematical core: all-in or nothing.

Use the Stack to Blinds Calculator to quickly convert your chip stack into big blinds. A one or two big blind difference can change the correct play, so knowing your exact ratio at all times is essential.

Reading Push/Fold Charts in Preflop+

Open the push/fold module in Preflop+ and you will see the standard 13x13 hand matrix. Suited hands appear above the diagonal, offsuit hands below, and pairs run along the diagonal. Dial in your stack depth (1 to 25 big blinds in half-blind increments), select your position, and hands appear color-coded: green cells are shoves, red cells are folds, and yellow cells are marginal spots near the breakeven threshold.

Example: 10 Big Blinds on the Button

Set your stack to 10 BB and position to the button. The chart lights up green across a wide range: any pair, any ace, kings down to K4o, suited queens, Q8o and better, J8s and better, and suited connectors like 76s and 65s. You are shoving roughly 40% of hands.

Compare that to UTG at the same stack depth: pocket pairs 55+, ATo+, ATs+, KQs, and not much else. That is only about 12% of hands. This difference illustrates why position is the most important factor in push/fold play after stack depth.

The Yellow Zone

Yellow cells have expected value near zero. Context tips the decision. If the blinds are tight, high Fold Equity pushes a yellow hand into shove territory. If the big blind calls wide, it becomes a fold. Preflop+ lets you adjust opponent calling ranges to see how the chart shifts.

The Math Behind the Shove

You are in the small blind with 8 big blinds, holding A5 offsuit. The pot contains 1.5 BB. When you shove:

Everyone folds (60% of the time): You win 1.5 BB. EV component = 0.60 x 1.5 = +0.90 BB.

Big blind calls (40% of the time): Pot is 16.5 BB. Against a 30% calling range, A5o has about 43% equity. EV when called = (0.43 x 16.5) - 8 = -0.905 BB. Weighted: 0.40 x (-0.905) = -0.362 BB.

Total EV: 0.90 + (-0.362) = +0.538 BB. A clearly profitable shove, worth over half a big blind every time.

ICM Adjustments: When the Chart Changes

ICM fundamentally changes push/fold math in tournaments. In a cash game, every chip has equal value. In a tournament, chips you lose are worth more than chips you gain because of the payout structure.

Preflop+ includes ICM mode that recalculates every chart based on payouts, remaining players, and stack distribution. A7 offsuit from the cutoff with 10 BB is a standard chip-EV shove. But one elimination from the money with three shorter stacks at the table? The ICM-adjusted chart says fold. Survival outweighs the marginal EV gain.

For a deep dive into tournament ICM beyond push/fold, read ICM Explained: Tournament Endgame Strategy and the Tournament Strategy: From Early to Late Stages.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make

Folding Too Much From Late Position

Many beginners treat 87 suited as junk from the button with 10 big blinds. The chart says shove. Your fold equity combined with the decent equity of suited connectors when called makes it clearly profitable.

Limping Instead of Shoving

With a short stack, there is no room for limping. Limping surrenders fold equity, the most valuable asset a short stack has.

Waiting for a "Real Hand"

Folding from 12 big blinds down to 5 while waiting for aces is a death spiral. Shoving at 12 BB with a marginal hand gives you much more fold equity than shoving at 5 BB with a premium.

Put It Into Practice

Open Preflop+ and use the quiz mode: random hand, random stack, random position. Decide shove or fold as fast as you can. Aim for 10-15 minutes daily. Within two to three weeks, correct decisions will become automatic at the table.

Focus areas in order of priority:

• Button and small blind spots at 8-12 BB (highest frequency and impact)
• Cutoff and hijack spots at 10-15 BB (often misplayed)
• UTG spots at 8-12 BB (tightest ranges, easiest to over-fold)
• ICM-adjusted scenarios near the bubble (biggest dollar impact)

Download Preflop+ and start building the push/fold foundation every winning tournament player relies on. Download Preflop+ on the App Store | Get Preflop+ on Google Play