10bb vs 15bb: when to shove in poker

At 10bb every seat shoves more

Every seat that can be folded to shoves a wider range with 10 big blinds than with 15. The gap is 5 to 10 percentage points, depending on the seat. Under the gun shoves 17% of hands at 10bb and 13% at 15bb; the small blind shoves 74% and 64%.

Shares are of all 1,326 starting combinations, with everyone before you folded. Each figure links to its full chart.

The hands that shove only at 10bb

These are the hands each seat shoves with 10 big blinds and folds with 15, counting a hand the solver plays both ways under the play it makes more often. They are the decisions that change as your stack shrinks; the rest of each chart barely moves.

From the early seats the added hands are small pairs, suited aces and offsuit broadways. On the button they are mostly weaker kings and queens: K3s-K2s, Q5s-Q4s, T6s, 85s, 54s, K8o-K5o, Q9o, J9o.

The other way is rare: Q8s in the hijack shoves at 15bb and not at 10bb. A hand close to the line can flip either way, because shoving it earns almost the same as folding it.

Why: the big blind calls a short stack wider

A shove wins the blinds and antes when everyone folds. With fewer chips behind it, it risks less to win the same pot, and the players who call it risk less too. So the big blind calls wider against a 10bb shove than against a 15bb one:

• Against a button shove, the big blind calls with 38% of hands at 10bb and 27% at 15bb.
• Against a shove from under the gun, it calls with 17% at 10bb (33+, A2s+, KTs+, QTs+, A8o+, KQo) and 8% at 15bb (66+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+).

The shover sees the other side of it: a button shove gets through with no caller 43% of the time at 10bb and 57% at 15bb. Even so, it pays to shove wider when short, because each fold you make costs a bigger share of what you have left, and a shove that is called still has the equity of a real hand.

Using the two charts

• Learn the 15bb chart for your seat first. The 10bb chart is almost the same range plus the hands above.
• The two depths solved here are 10bb and 15bb. With a stack in between, neither chart is exact; pick the closer one.
• These charts are for eight players with a big blind ante, and they maximise chips. Near the bubble or at a final table, prize jumps usually call for tighter shoves than any chip chart shows.

The 10bb push/fold chartsThe 15bb push/fold chartsHow to read a poker range chartHow to memorize poker rangesWhat does 20bb mean in poker? Stacks explainedHow stack depth changes preflop play in poker