6 min
Fold Equity In Poker: Tournament Shove Strategy
Understand fold equity in poker and why it is the engine behind short-stack tournament shoves and resteals.
Practice this concept
Enter a hand, stack depth, position, tournament stage, and previous action to compare the guide concept with a structured spot recommendation.
Open the calculatorFold Equity Definition
Fold equity is the value you gain when opponents fold to your bet. In short-stack tournaments, fold equity can make a shove profitable even when your hand is not a favorite if called.
Why Shoves Use Fold Equity Well
An all-in bet denies opponents the chance to see cheap flops and forces them to risk chips immediately. That pressure is strongest when stacks are shallow and the pot already contains blinds and antes.
Fold Equity Falls As You Get Shorter
If your stack becomes too small, opponents get better pot odds to call. That is why waiting from 10BB down to 4BB can destroy the value of hands that were profitable shoves earlier.
ICM And Fold Equity
ICM can increase fold equity against players who do not want to bust, but it can also make your own marginal shoves worse if you are risking too much prize equity.