What is a shoving range?

A shoving range is the full list of starting hands that move all-in profitably from a given position at a given stack depth - the output of a push/fold solve, usually shown as a 13x13 grid.

“Shoving range” and “push/fold chart” describe the same thing. Range width depends heavily on position: the earliest seat at the table has the tightest shoving range, since the most players are still left to act behind it, and the range widens all the way around to the small blind, which only has to get past one opponent.

Ranges are usually quoted as a percentage of all 169 starting hands - “the button shoves 34% at 10bb” means 34% of the grid is shaded in. That number is a useful shorthand for comparing two spots, but it hides the shape, and the shape is what you actually have to memorise. Two ranges can both be 20% wide and share barely half their hands: an early-position range at 20% is built almost entirely from pairs and big broadways, while a small-blind range at the same width has already picked up suited connectors and weak aces that the early seat never plays.

Depth moves the range in both directions, which surprises people who expect it to only widen as stacks get shorter. Below about 8bb the range widens fast, because fold equity matters less and any two cards start showing a profit against a caller who is priced in. Above about 15bb it narrows again - not because the hands got worse, but because shoving stops being the only option and the strongest hands leave the shoving range to open smaller instead. A chart that shows AA folding is broken; a chart that shows AA raising rather than jamming at 20bb is usually correct.

One thing a shoving range is not is a decision you make in isolation. It is one half of an equilibrium: the range is only correct against the calling ranges it was solved against. Widen the assumed caller and the profitable shoving range shrinks, sometimes sharply.