What Is the Best Way to Handle a Short Stack in MTT Tournaments?

Sumohoward · Jul 29, 2026

I have been studying tournament poker and one situation I find challenging is playing with a short stack.

When my stack gets low, I sometimes find it difficult to decide when to push, call, or wait for a better spot. I know that being too passive can be dangerous because the blinds continue to increase, but taking unnecessary risks can also end the tournament.

I would like to hear from experienced tournament players: what are your main rules or strategies when you have around 10–20 big blinds? Do you focus more on position, hand strength, or finding good spots to steal blinds?

Looking forward to learning from everyone's experience.

Roller · Jul 29, 2026

It really depends on the situation, there isn't one strategy that fits every short stack spot.
If there are still plenty of players left, I'm looking for good shove spots with fold equity.

Semprini · Jul 30, 2026

Here is my short-stack strategy.

First, at roughly 10bb I am in jam or fold mode. This isn't in stone. I go by feel. Sometimes it will be 12bb, sometimes maybe 7bb. Usually when I get down to 8 or 7 bb (or sometimes less) it is because I can get very fussy about what I jam and I should probably be less fussy. This is probably an error in my game. If there are antes, my shove range will be a bit wider but if there are no antes I can take it orbit by orbit as only the blinds will chew at my stack. If I have a mid or low pocket pair I will think about shoving at 14 or 15bb since my fold equity is worth a lot more than my post-flop equity here. Maybe I am wrong to do this but that is where I am at right now. If I am in a very overcally game like a freeroll or a play money game my shove or fold mode will start closer to 15bb. This is because a standard opening sizing of 2.5x to 3xbb won't get enough folds pre, so a standard open size is 3x, 4x, 5x bb. If I open 4x with only 12bb, it is easy to see that I am not very playable post-flop if called (especially multiway) so it is better to just rip my 12-15bb in their faces pre-flop.

What do I shove? That depends on my position. Of course if we are all-in we do not care about post-flop position, but many jam value hands are better to see the pre-flop action before committing our tournament life on them. There are 3 kinds of jam hands.

1 - Prime hands are a shove from any seat.
2 - Near prime hands (stuff like KJo - not quite prime but dammit we may not get better so hey close enough) usually shoved from any seat but depending on my gut instinct.
3 - Marginal shoves (stuff like mid-low pocket pairs and A-rags, have immediate showdown value ) I want to see the action so will almost always fold them unless I'm on the blinds and the table is weak. Then and only then am I all-in.

Let's say that I am on the SB with A4s. There is only 1 limper, so only him and the BB to showdown with or make fold, and hey, A4s probably competes very well with a limp range. So THEN I will jam. But if there are say 3 limpers, it's too many, and of course if someone else opens, I just lay down.

Jamming a marginal shove hand from say UtG is very dangerous. Let's take our A4s. If we shove that UtG we just give that big stack behind us with A8o an easy call to dominate us. That's why we need to be stronger to jam when we can't see any action first.

Also, I watch the stacks around me, If I have 8bb and the player 2 seats to my left has 80bb, mathematically, he is supposed to call me with ANY 2 cards (provided that he is confident of isolation). In this case I can be 99% certain that I WILL get called. This could be bad because I will have to showdown for my tournament life, but also could be good because he can call me very wide and I have a strong chance to be ahead and double up.

One more thing that I will add. I don't always have to shove my entire 9bb all-in. If I am confident of stealing, a normal bluff sizing will do. Simple example. I am on SB and it folds to me. I have 9bb and the BB has 16bb and I know that he's a fish who won't attack me back unless he is super strong. Let's also say that we are 1 or 2 felts from the bubble making him even extra foldy. He hasn't acted yet so he is 100% wide. If my standard 2.5x or 3x bluff raise will make him fold, then I don't have to jam it all-in just in case he wakes up with AK. Basic bluff sizing rule often still applies and that rule is: what is the smallest amount that will make Villain fold?

fundiver199 · Jul 30, 2026

With a short stack we are looking for fold equity, so we usually open jam 10-12BB and rejam 15-20BB. If we think, we lack fold equity, we tighten up. Maybe a 10BB stack has open raised to 3BB, and we think, its pretty unlikely, he will do that and then fold to a rejam. So whereas we would normally rejam hands like suited broadways or weak suited aces, we pass on the spot and fold. If you struggle with this part of the game, I highly recommend to get ICMizer even for 1 or 3 month and make yourself familiar with the theoretically correct push/fold ranges.

Goggelheimer · Jul 30, 2026

Well it depends on many table dynamic observations that you have made in the tournament until now.

Mostly you may have identified which player you should attack ans if there will be more play happy plyaers behind you traget.
No flat calling because you have no way to make big postflop plays.
Mostly it is push or fold with high equity hands.
Just look for Nash calculated ranges and try to get an idea why those hands are shoved.

Semprini · Jul 30, 2026

Quick story. I was down to 6bb at the final table. There were 6 or 7 of us left. I was dealt A3s so I jammed it in. I got called by A6 but turned a 3 and doubled up. I survived to cash 3rd place. When I finally busted out, the guy who had called me with A6 says, "serves you right for jamming A3," and "A3 is not a jam hand."

So I says, "It is when you only have 6bb."

Then he continued to berate me and tell me what a terrible player that I was, hah! Good times. ; )

fundiver199 · Jul 31, 2026

Semprini said:
Quick story. I was down to 6bb at the final table. There were 6 or 7 of us left. I was dealt A3s so I jammed it in. I got called by A6 but turned a 3 and doubled up. I survived to cash 3rd place. When I finally busted out, the guy who had called me with A6 says, "serves you right for jamming A3," and "A3 is not a jam hand."

So I says, "It is when you only have 6bb."

Then he continued to berate me and tell me what a terrible player that I was, hah! Good times. ; )

Funny story especially since its probably more A6, thats not a calling hand due to the gap concept. Like maybe it was a marginal call, if he was in BB and got a discount closing the action, but hardly ever from any of the other seats. So its one of those situations, where people berating others in the chat end up exposing their own ignorance about poker strategy as well as the fact, they are a bad loser / mental game fish

Sumohoward · Jul 31, 2026

Semprini said:
Quick story. I was down to 6bb at the final table. There were 6 or 7 of us left. I was dealt A3s so I jammed it in. I got called by A6 but turned a 3 and doubled up. I survived to cash 3rd place. When I finally busted out, the guy who had called me with A6 says, "serves you right for jamming A3," and "A3 is not a jam hand."

So I says, "It is when you only have 6bb."

Then he continued to berate me and tell me what a terrible player that I was, hah! HUH

fundiver199 said:

Funny story especially since its probably more A6, thats not a calling hand due to the gap concept. Like maybe it was a marginal call, if he was in BB and got a discount closing the action, but hardly ever from any of the other seats. So its one of those situations, where people berating others in the chat end up exposing their own ignorance about poker strategy as well as the fact, they are a bad loser / mental game fish

Click to expand...

dannystanks · Jul 31, 2026

He calls you with A6 and then gives you a hard time lol Just shows that poker is alive and well! Players that berate other players just don’t make sense to me, it’s just a pure ego trip. Good luck and have fun!

KabzaPoker22 · Jul 31, 2026

I think the best way is to stay patient and wait for a good spot. If your stack gets too small, you should be ready to go all-in with a strong hand instead of losing chips by calling. Every chip is important when you are short stacked.

skaterick · Jul 31, 2026

push /fold charts are quite easy to find . learning them , and then executing the ideas properly takes much more experience .

fzap1983 · Jul 31, 2026

I have the same problem, especially when the blind levels are short. It feels like your chips just keep disappearing without you doing anything.

Semprini · Jul 31, 2026

fzap1983 said:
I have the same problem, especially when the blind levels are short. It feels like your chips just keep disappearing without you doing anything.

Here is another way that I learned to look at things. The blinds don't get higher, the stacks just get shorter. ; )

Yes, of course the blinds come up, but that's not the point. It's not the size of the blinds, it's the size of the STACKS. Always measure your stack (and the other stacks at the table too) in big blinds. If your starting stack is 2000 chips and the blinds are 5/10, then stack div by bb = stack size, or 2000 / 10 = 200 bb. We start with 200bb. 10 mins in, level 2 the blinds double to 10/20. If we still have 2000 chips, then 2000 / 20 = 100bb. The blinds did not double, the STACKS cut in HALF! See?

Okay, yes, the blinds did double but it is better for our mindset to view if from the other end. When we look at the math from the point of view of the stacks, things are clearer for us.

We see thousands of people talking about poker on all kinds of forums and if you pay attention, the smarter players on these forums never say "when the blinds get big at the final table." Instead they always say, "when the stacks get short at the final table." ; ) These are the wise people. I hope that I am one of them.

TheniT · Aug 1, 2026

When you're short-stacked in MTTs, stay disciplined and look for profitable shove or re-shove opportunities instead of waiting for premium hands. Adjust your strategy based on your stack size, use fold equity whenever possible, and consider ICM near the money or at final tables. The goal is to act before the blinds force you into a desperate situation.

fundiver199 · Aug 1, 2026

Semprini said:
Yes, of course the blinds come up, but that's not the point. It's not the size of the blinds, it's the size of the STACKS. Always measure your stack (and the other stacks at the table too) in big blinds.

This is very true, and for that reason I highly recommend to display stacks in BB rather than chips especially in tournaments. Because in that way one of the most important pieces of information is staring you right in the face, and you dont need to waste brain power converting chips to BB in every single hand. Nearly all online sites allow this option, and usually you switch between chips and BB by simply clicking on any players stack size.

fzap1983 · Aug 1, 2026

Semprini said:
Here is another way that I learned to look at things. The blinds don't get higher, the stacks just get shorter. ; )

Yes, of course the blinds come up, but that's not the point. It's not the size of the blinds, it's the size of the STACKS. Always measure your stack (and the other stacks at the table too) in big blinds. If your starting stack is 2000 chips and the blinds are 5/10, then stack div by bb = stack size, or 2000 / 10 = 200 bb. We start with 200bb. 10 mins in, level 2 the blinds double to 10/20. If we still have 2000 chips, then 2000 / 20 = 100bb. The blinds did not double, the STACKS cut in HALF! See?

Okay, yes, the blinds did double but it is better for our mindset to view if from the other end. When we look at the math from the point of view of the stacks, things are clearer for us.

We see thousands of people talking about poker on all kinds of forums and if you pay attention, the smarter players on these forums never say "when the blinds get big at the final table." Instead they always say, "when the stacks get short at the final table." ; ) These are the wise people. I hope that I am one of them.

I still have a lot to learn before I can really start improving my game. Thank you

finaltable1 · Aug 1, 2026

under 10bb its push/fold, no other options available

Jyco · Aug 1, 2026

t all depends on your position at the table and your effective stack size in big blinds. For example, if you only have around 5 big blinds, your decisions are usually limited to either folding or going all-in, even with hands that aren't considered premium.

Position also matters. If you're in a good position, you'll often need to take advantage of it and be willing to act. Many short-stacked players make the mistake of playing too tight, when in reality they often need to be more aggressive.

For me, the key is paying attention to how the players at your table are playing. Against passive opponents, look for good spots to shove with hands that are likely to be ahead of their calling range. With a very short stack, you usually don't have much fold equity, so it's important to choose situations where you're likely to be a favorite when called.

didi58xx · Aug 1, 2026

at 6bb - its shove in or fold - anything that looks good - connectors to any Ace from A 2on wards - its survival mode...

I personally have relied on luck at times when all fails - by surviving on the blinds getting me through for an extra rounds and fingers crossed that players on my right fold to me so i win the blind - its not the best advice but hey it has managed to take me into the money many times around....you do what you have to do..

Marshmalo1994 · Aug 2, 2026

Sumohoward said:
I have been studying tournament poker and one situation I find challenging is playing with a short stack.

When my stack gets low, I sometimes find it difficult to decide when to push, call, or wait for a better spot. I know that being too passive can be dangerous because the blinds continue to increase, but taking unnecessary risks can also end the tournament.

I would like to hear from experienced tournament players: what are your main rules or strategies when you have around 10–20 big blinds? Do you focus more on position, hand strength, or finding good spots to steal blinds?

Looking forward to learning from everyone's experience.

I guess that you could find easily some charts to memorize and practice push/fold when you're short.
It depends on many factors, but is a good way to start

sandeeppandekar · Aug 3, 2026

20–30 BB: You still have room to raise, 3-bet, and steal blinds. Avoid calling too much preflop because you don't have enough chips to play many postflop pots.
10–20 BB: This is often the reshove zone. Open fewer hands, and be ready to go all-in over loose raises with strong hands instead of flat-calling.
10 BB or less: Mostly play push-or-fold. Open-shoving is usually better than making a small raise because it maximizes fold equity and prevents difficult decisions after the flop.

vim_bhagya · Aug 4, 2026

Rather than talking about strategy, to have a feeling about what to do in short stack poker i use 2 main free trainers. On their websites they have the free version and it's clearly beneficial for your subject i think.

1. Pairrd - this is part of a training module runs by raise your edge (owned by bencb {famous player & Trainer}).
here in their free version once you signed up you can train spots under 20bb including push/folds.

2. BBZ poker - here also you can train spots under 12bb freely including push/folds.

SergioV · Aug 4, 2026

Sumohoward said:
I have been studying tournament poker and one situation I find challenging is playing with a short stack.

When my stack gets low, I sometimes find it difficult to decide when to push, call, or wait for a better spot. I know that being too passive can be dangerous because the blinds continue to increase, but taking unnecessary risks can also end the tournament.

I would like to hear from experienced tournament players: what are your main rules or strategies when you have around 10–20 big blinds? Do you focus more on position, hand strength, or finding good spots to steal blinds?

Looking forward to learning from everyone's experience.

I try to avoid getting below 10 BB if possible. With 10–20 BB, position becomes very important. I look for good spots to steal the blinds, and I'm careful about calling all-ins without a strong hand. If I get close to 10 BB, I usually switch to a push/fold strategy instead of waiting too long. Losing fold equity can be very expensive, so I prefer to act before the blinds eat up my stack.

fundiver199 · Aug 4, 2026

Sumohoward said:
I know that being too passive can be dangerous because the blinds continue to increase, but taking unnecessary risks can also end the tournament.

I answered already, but I just want to make an additional comment about this statement in particular, because I think, this might be the core of the reason, why it feels difficult to play with a short stack both for OP and others. The simple fact is, that when we are down to a short stack (and shorter than most other players), then we are already kind of selected to bust next. So a central part of playing well with a short stack is to get rid of our fear of getting called and busting.

I recently bubbled a $21 MTT by open jamming QJs from CO for 7BB and getting called by KQ. And while this sucks, I am not going to stop open jamming QJs for 7BB from CO, because I know, its a long term profitable play. This just happened to be one of the around 3 out of 10 times, where someone behind had a hand, that was strong enough for them to call, and then they also won the "flip". The jam was fine, and as long as that is the case, we need to learn to stop worrying about outcomes of individual hands.

anbu210 · Aug 4, 2026

With **10–20BB**, my priority is preserving **fold equity** and avoiding difficult postflop spots.

I focus mainly on **position, stack sizes, and opponent tendencies** rather than just my cards.

With **15–20BB**, I prefer **reshoving** over flat calling in many spots, especially against late-position opens.

At **10–12BB**, I'm mostly in push/fold mode and look for good steal opportunities before the blinds eat my stack.

The biggest mistake is waiting too long for premium hands—by then, you may have lost the fold equity that makes your shove profitable. ♠️

What Is the Best Way to Handle a Short Stack in MTT Tournaments?

Sumohoward

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Roller

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Semprini

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fundiver199

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Goggelheimer

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Semprini

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fundiver199

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Sumohoward

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dannystanks

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KabzaPoker22

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skaterick

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fzap1983

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Semprini

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TheniT

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fundiver199

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fzap1983

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finaltable1

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Jyco

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didi58xx

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Marshmalo1994

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sandeeppandekar

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vim_bhagya

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SergioV

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fundiver199

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anbu210

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