7 min

Open Shove Ranges In Poker Tournaments

Understand open shove ranges by stack depth, position, antes, and hand class for tournament poker spots.

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 calculator

What Open Shove Means

An open shove is the first voluntary action in the pot and moves all in preflop. It is most common at short stacks when raising small would leave awkward stack-to-pot ratios.

Range Width By Position

Open shove ranges are tightest under the gun and widest on the button and small blind. Every player left to act reduces fold equity and increases the chance of running into a strong hand.

Hands That Gain Value

Pocket pairs, ace-x blockers, suited aces, and broadway hands often perform well as open shoves because they either have clean equity or reduce the chance opponents hold premiums.

When Not To Open Shove

Avoid automatic open shoves when stacks are deeper, ICM pressure is extreme, or your hand plays better as a smaller raise. The shove is a tool, not the whole strategy.

Practice spots

Apply the guide

Related guides

Keep building the range map

FAQ

Tournament spot questions

How should I practice open shove ranges in poker tournaments?

Start with one stack depth and one position, guess the action before checking the calculator, then compare similar spots until the range shift feels natural.

Is this open shove ranges in poker tournaments guide a real solver output?

No. The guide explains tournament heuristics and links to deterministic MVP recommendations. Exact Nash charts or solver APIs can be added later.