4 min

Small Blind Shove Strategy

Heads-up blind-versus-blind heuristics for tournament stacks.

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

Wide But Not Reckless

The small blind acts first preflop but only needs to beat one player. That creates wide shoving opportunities at shallow stacks.

Stack Bands

At 8 to 12 big blinds, many suited kings, ace-x hands, pairs, and connected hands become candidates. At 20 or more, min-raising often captures more value.

Practice spots

Apply the guide

8BB SB A7O limp

A7O from the small blind at 8BB in a middle tournament spot. The heuristic recommends shove with 65% confidence.

10BB BTN A5S First In

A5S from the button at 10BB in a middle tournament spot. The heuristic recommends shove with 78% confidence.

12BB CO KQO open

KQO from the cutoff at 12BB in a middle tournament spot. The heuristic recommends shove with 73% confidence.

6BB BTN 77 limp

77 from the button at 6BB in a middle tournament spot. The heuristic recommends shove with 91% confidence.

6BB BTN 99 limp

99 from the button at 6BB in a middle tournament spot. The heuristic recommends shove with 93% confidence.

6BB BTN AA limp

AA from the button at 6BB in a middle tournament spot. The heuristic recommends shove with 94% confidence.

Related guides

Keep building the range map

6 min

Small Blind Shove Range In Tournament Poker

Study small blind shove ranges, blind-versus-blind pressure, and how short stacks change heads-up preflop decisions.

6 min

Button Shove Range For Tournament Short Stacks

Learn why button shove ranges are wider, which hands benefit, and how stack depth changes late-position shoves.

6 min

Cutoff Shove Range For Tournament Poker

Study cutoff shove ranges by stack depth, antes, blockers, and players left to act.

6 min

Hijack Shove Range For Tournament Poker

Learn how hijack shove ranges differ from cutoff and button ranges in short-stack tournament spots.

FAQ

Tournament spot questions

How should I practice small blind shove strategy?

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 small blind shove strategy 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.