Hijack MTT Opening Range at 40bb (8-Max, Chip EV)

At 40 big blinds the Hijack opens 28.5% of hands, and the shape of the chart is what matters. Pocket pairs, suited aces, suited broadways, and the strongest offsuit broadways form the core; suited connectors and gappers fill in as position improves. The later you sit, the more the chart fills toward the bottom-left as speculative and offsuit hands become profitable opens.

At tournament depths this range is a raise-or-fold decision, not a limp. Opening for a raise takes down the blinds and antes uncontested a large share of the time and keeps your postflop range strong when called. Memorising the border of this chart, the marginal hands that flip between open and fold, is where most of the EV lives, because the premiums and the trash play themselves.