Preflop Strategy Guides
The theory behind the charts on the free ranges page. Listed in reading order - the first one is the place to start if you are new to short stacks.
Start here
Short Stack Poker Strategy
What it means to be short stacked, why it's worth learning on purpose, and how push/fold, ICM, and opponent reads fit together - the starting point for every guide below.
How to Read a Push/Fold Chart
What the 169 cells, colors, and split fills on a push/fold chart actually mean, worked through one real solved range.
What Is an Effective Stack? A Guide to Stack Depth
Why the shortest stack in the hand - not your own - sets the pot ceiling and the strategy, how to read it multiway, and where ICM breaks the shortcut.
What Is Fold Equity? The Math Behind Every Shove
How often your opponent folds, multiplied by the pot you win when they do - and why that number and your equity when called have to be read together.
10bb Push/Fold Chart and Strategy: Every 6-Max Position
The solved 10bb shove range for all five opening positions as both charts and hand notation, then what a money bubble and a read on the big blind each do to it.
Push/Fold Strategy by Stack Depth: 5bb vs. 10bb vs. 15bb
How the button's opening range actually changes from 5bb to 15bb effective, with the three solved charts side by side.
Big Blind Defense: How to Build a Calling and Shoving Range
Why the big blind's defending range is wider than its opening range, and why it depends on who opened.
GTO vs. Exploit: When to Deviate From Balanced Ranges
Why an unexploitable range and the highest-EV range against one opponent aren't the same thing, and how to know which one you should be playing.
Exploiting Tight and Loose Opponents
What actually changes in a solved shove range once you tag an opponent as folding too much or calling too much - the real hands that move, both directions.
What Is ICM? A Guide to the Independent Chip Model
What the Independent Chip Model is, why a tournament chip's value is variable rather than fixed, and how that makes correct play tighter in some spots and far more aggressive in others.
Push/Fold Strategy for Low Stakes
Does push/fold work when nobody at your table plays GTO? Yes - but only if you adjust in the right order. The three-step method, with the solved charts at each stage.
The Best Short-Stack MTT Trainers
Five push/fold and ICM tools, tested and ranked for one job - compared on cost, ICM, exploit support, and whether they drill you or just answer you.
Looking for a quick definition instead? Check the glossary →