Poker Shove Calculator

Hi, my name is Greg and I'm 32.

1. Poker Shove Calculator Rules
2. Poker Shove Calculator For Dummies

I'm trying to create the best poker strategy website I can. The poker game I am best at is No Limit Texas Hold'em, so my strategy focuses on that.

I didn't like the way I had to learn the game when I first started playing online poker in 2006, so I started this poker strategy website in 2007. ThePokerBank.com sounded good at the time, and I thought I'd figure the rest out as I went along.

These Push Fold Charts will help you understand when you need to either fold or shove your entire stack when you are short stacked in poker tournaments. Please use these charts as a study tool to help you improve your understanding of push fold scenarios. Free Book: Jonathan Little's new book –. Welcome to the poker push or fold calculator.This calculator is designed for full ring tournament poker players. Under 20 big blinds, depending on your hand, your position at the table, the ante percentage of big blind and your number of big blinds, the calculator tells you whether it is better to push or fold your hand to get nash equilibrium (as long as no one has raised before you).

Free Poker Bankrolls, Rakeback and Staking. 3-bet shove equity calculator. A5o+, KTo+, QJo+ (23.08%)if i got AcAd villain will open 56,18% and call my shove. The poker odds calculators on CardPlayer.com let you run any scenario that you see at the poker table, see your odds and outs, and cover the math of winning and losing poker hands. Texas Hold'em Omaha. For more information about making your own push/fold charts, the HoldemResources.net ICM calculator is an excellent resource for getting started with push/fold calculations of your own. Most players are probably best off just using the charts we have available; they will keep you within 1% of absolutely perfect play when the stacks are short.

This is what I've got so far.

I want to try and explain poker strategy better than anyone else, so that other people don't have to go through the same problems I did when trying to win money from poker. Poker is complex, but that doesn't mean it has to be complicated. Learning is easy if you can find the right material.

This isn't an all-singing and all-dancing poker website, I haven't got the time for that. It's Texas Hold'em strategy with a few things on the side. If anything's singing and dancing it's me.

Who doesn't love Shania Twain?

What is ThePokerBank all about?

The general idea of ThePokerBank is to teach you how to play winning no limit Texas Hold'em and help you find a better room to play at. Basically, I want to help you win more money from playing Texas Hold'em online.

To summarize the goals of ThePokerBank as sweetly as possible:

• Teach quality Texas Hold'em strategy through articles and videos. The better you play the more you win.
• Give honest reviews of Texas Hold'em rooms. I'm not going lie and tell you that every room is perfect.

Tip: If you ever get lost, cut your losses and head to the Texas Hold'em FAQ.

Playing Texas Hold'em poker online.

There are multiple options for playing Texas Holdem online. I've given honest reviews of these rooms in the Texas Hold'em rooms section.

I urge you to check out a variety of the top Texas Hold'em rooms on this site and go for the one you like the most. Make your own decisions (it's a running theme in poker) and be happy with the room you decide to play at.

Different players have different tastes and expectations, so play at the room that you like best and don't worry about what others may be claming to be the 'bestest room ever'.

Feeling comfortable while you play is more important than any other metric.

My top 5.

Different rooms appeal to different types of players. You should check out the reviews and go for the one you think suits you best. Everyone has their favourite chair, everyone has their favourite poker room.

Having said that, I do have incredibly good taste, so here are my favourite 5 rooms for playing Texas Hold'em poker online.

Useful Texas Hold'em stuff.

Along with the strategy and room information on this site, there are a few other things you may find useful:

• SplitSuit explains poker strategy in video like nobody else I know.
• The bankroll calculator helps you to figure out what stakes to play at.
• I've got a poker software section. Good software will help you win more money.
• Here are some opinions on poker books.

A bit more about guy behind ThePokerBank.

My name is Greg (see right, fuzzy hair is due to the 2020 lockdown), I'm from the UK and I started ThePokerBank in 2007. You can find out more gripping stuff about me on my about me page.

Why should you trust my strategy and advice?

I'm not a full time professional or live tournament player, so don't expect to see me on TV shows or in any poker history books. Not yet anyway.

Despite that major set back, I am a comfortable winning online Texas Hold'em cash game player up to $200NL, which is good enough for me. I've also played at more online poker rooms than most people would consider healthy.

All the information on this site is free. Feel free to comment around. Consistency isn't really my thing so don't be offended by untimely replies, but if I stumble back in to a responsive state I'll give you the best reply I can. I just want to say the fact that you are adding to the strategy pages is appreciated.

Recent updates.

• 16 November 2020 - Added map of regulated states to US poker rooms page.
• 30 October 2020 - Added maps to room review pages showing the countries they each accept.

This week CardRunners coach Samer 'Braminc' Khuri explains ICM calculators and how fully understanding them can help us with super short-stack poker tournament strategy.

Samer 'Braminc' Khuri has been playing SNGs full time since 2006. He plays a wide range of stakes and his latest CardRunners video series, SNG Payout Analysis, explains how to effectively adjust to any tournament structure in the world. In his spare time he plays guitar, sings, and writes music.

Take it away Samer.

Most people that play poker tournaments are familiar with one very basic and crucial concept: When your stack reaches a certain critically low level, you must either go all-in or fold pre-flop.

Raising a standard amount becomes suboptimal, as you will end up having less fold equity yet still be committed to the pot after the flop (no matter what the flop is).

The idea is to maximize our fold equity while we have it to increase our chances of survival.

What Exactly is 'Critically Low' in Poker?

While this is widely accepted, there is some debate as to just how short stacked 'critically low' is. Some players seem to only shove/fold when their stack reaches 15 big blinds or less. Some say 10 big blinds or less.

Some point out that you should calculate your M—your stack size divided by the total value of the blinds and antes—and shove whenever M is less than 10. None of these answers is exactly right or wrong. It depends on the tendencies of your opponents, how they view a pre-flop shove from you, and how they react to a standard raise from you.
10 big blinds and an M of 10 have always been key values for me. There are absolutely times when I will shove 15 or even 20 big blinds, and there are other times when I will make a standard raise with as few as 8 big blinds. Both of those scenarios are rare, and they are not what this article is about.

I want to discuss the shortest of short stacks: the times you have 5 big blinds or less (or an M of 5 or less). In these situations, you are running out of fold equity. You need to move quickly. To play cautiously at this stage will lose you money in the long run.

Many of us use ICM calculators to determine what hands are +EV to shove in what spots (and what hands aren't). These ICM calculators are the key to short stack tournament poker. However, they have limitations.

Poker Shove Calculator Rules

What is ICM?

ICM is a measurement of total prize pool equity. Using it, you can compare the value of your stack if you move in and if you fold.

The first problem we encounter is that your prize pool equity is based solely on the number of chips you have now relative to the total number of chips and players remaining. No account is taken of the players' skill.

The calculator doesn't know how good you are; even we humans don't know exactly how good anyone is. So, if you are one of the best players at the table, ICM is likely to underestimate the value of your stack; this will affect the best play sometimes.

Another major limitation of ICM, and the most relevant one to this article, is that because these calculators simply compare your prize pool equity if you shove or fold immediately after the hand, they ignore future hands.

Another way to put this point is that the real value of your stack can depend on the position of the blinds, whether you are likely to be in very bad situations soon, and so on.

Take Shoves That Are -EV

In my view, when you are as short as 4 or 5 big blinds, you need to take shoves that ICM says are –EV, because folding is often even worse than ICM indicates.

The problem is that calculating just how bad our future situations will be can be extremely difficult. Nobody can figure this out with complete accuracy; it depends on all our opponents' tendencies and is sensitive to very small changes in their stack sizes.

Usually we will not be dealt monster cards within the next orbit of play, and since our fold equity will disappear when we continue folding, we will be getting our chips all-in as huge underdogs a majority of the time.

I urge you to check out a variety of the top Texas Hold'em rooms on this site and go for the one you like the most. Make your own decisions (it's a running theme in poker) and be happy with the room you decide to play at.

Different players have different tastes and expectations, so play at the room that you like best and don't worry about what others may be claming to be the 'bestest room ever'.

Feeling comfortable while you play is more important than any other metric.

My top 5.

Different rooms appeal to different types of players. You should check out the reviews and go for the one you think suits you best. Everyone has their favourite chair, everyone has their favourite poker room.

Having said that, I do have incredibly good taste, so here are my favourite 5 rooms for playing Texas Hold'em poker online.

Useful Texas Hold'em stuff.

Along with the strategy and room information on this site, there are a few other things you may find useful:

• SplitSuit explains poker strategy in video like nobody else I know.
• The bankroll calculator helps you to figure out what stakes to play at.
• I've got a poker software section. Good software will help you win more money.
• Here are some opinions on poker books.

A bit more about guy behind ThePokerBank.

My name is Greg (see right, fuzzy hair is due to the 2020 lockdown), I'm from the UK and I started ThePokerBank in 2007. You can find out more gripping stuff about me on my about me page.

Why should you trust my strategy and advice?

I'm not a full time professional or live tournament player, so don't expect to see me on TV shows or in any poker history books. Not yet anyway.

Despite that major set back, I am a comfortable winning online Texas Hold'em cash game player up to $200NL, which is good enough for me. I've also played at more online poker rooms than most people would consider healthy.

All the information on this site is free. Feel free to comment around. Consistency isn't really my thing so don't be offended by untimely replies, but if I stumble back in to a responsive state I'll give you the best reply I can. I just want to say the fact that you are adding to the strategy pages is appreciated.

Recent updates.

• 16 November 2020 - Added map of regulated states to US poker rooms page.
• 30 October 2020 - Added maps to room review pages showing the countries they each accept.

This week CardRunners coach Samer 'Braminc' Khuri explains ICM calculators and how fully understanding them can help us with super short-stack poker tournament strategy.

Samer 'Braminc' Khuri has been playing SNGs full time since 2006. He plays a wide range of stakes and his latest CardRunners video series, SNG Payout Analysis, explains how to effectively adjust to any tournament structure in the world. In his spare time he plays guitar, sings, and writes music.

Take it away Samer.

Most people that play poker tournaments are familiar with one very basic and crucial concept: When your stack reaches a certain critically low level, you must either go all-in or fold pre-flop.

Raising a standard amount becomes suboptimal, as you will end up having less fold equity yet still be committed to the pot after the flop (no matter what the flop is).

The idea is to maximize our fold equity while we have it to increase our chances of survival.

What Exactly is 'Critically Low' in Poker?

While this is widely accepted, there is some debate as to just how short stacked 'critically low' is. Some players seem to only shove/fold when their stack reaches 15 big blinds or less. Some say 10 big blinds or less.

Some point out that you should calculate your M—your stack size divided by the total value of the blinds and antes—and shove whenever M is less than 10. None of these answers is exactly right or wrong. It depends on the tendencies of your opponents, how they view a pre-flop shove from you, and how they react to a standard raise from you.
10 big blinds and an M of 10 have always been key values for me. There are absolutely times when I will shove 15 or even 20 big blinds, and there are other times when I will make a standard raise with as few as 8 big blinds. Both of those scenarios are rare, and they are not what this article is about.

I want to discuss the shortest of short stacks: the times you have 5 big blinds or less (or an M of 5 or less). In these situations, you are running out of fold equity. You need to move quickly. To play cautiously at this stage will lose you money in the long run.

Many of us use ICM calculators to determine what hands are +EV to shove in what spots (and what hands aren't). These ICM calculators are the key to short stack tournament poker. However, they have limitations.

Poker Shove Calculator Rules

What is ICM?

ICM is a measurement of total prize pool equity. Using it, you can compare the value of your stack if you move in and if you fold.

The first problem we encounter is that your prize pool equity is based solely on the number of chips you have now relative to the total number of chips and players remaining. No account is taken of the players' skill.

The calculator doesn't know how good you are; even we humans don't know exactly how good anyone is. So, if you are one of the best players at the table, ICM is likely to underestimate the value of your stack; this will affect the best play sometimes.

Another major limitation of ICM, and the most relevant one to this article, is that because these calculators simply compare your prize pool equity if you shove or fold immediately after the hand, they ignore future hands.

Another way to put this point is that the real value of your stack can depend on the position of the blinds, whether you are likely to be in very bad situations soon, and so on.

Take Shoves That Are -EV

In my view, when you are as short as 4 or 5 big blinds, you need to take shoves that ICM says are –EV, because folding is often even worse than ICM indicates.

The problem is that calculating just how bad our future situations will be can be extremely difficult. Nobody can figure this out with complete accuracy; it depends on all our opponents' tendencies and is sensitive to very small changes in their stack sizes.

Usually we will not be dealt monster cards within the next orbit of play, and since our fold equity will disappear when we continue folding, we will be getting our chips all-in as huge underdogs a majority of the time.

After studying hundreds of short-stack tournament scenarios, I can confidently say that the degree to which we should be willing to take -EV shoves at 4-5 big blinds is much higher than I ever would have expected.

In a typical SNG, -1% to -2% of the prize pool is an extremely reasonable -EV shove to make under the gun when facing the alternative of blinding out of play. In larger tournaments the same is true, although the exact number will be different because of the greater field size.
If you are able to fully understand what ICM is, how it works, and what the ICM calculators are telling you, then you can apply good reasoning to learn when it is appropriate to deviate from their suggestions.

The Tournament Must Continue

In this case, we have observed that ICM calculators are unaware that the tournament doesn't end after the exact hand it is analyzing.

Because the tournament must continue, folding trashy cards with a stack of 4 or 5 big blinds can be pure suicide as you will soon have literally zero fold equity and close to zero prize pool equity.

We must do our best to estimate which -EV shoves are appropriate and which aren't. The short answer is that almost all -EV shoves in the described situation are very appropriate and necessary.

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Poker Shove Calculator For Dummies

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• Key Differences Between US and Euro Online Poker Sites

Samer 'Braminc' Khuri has been playing SNGs full time since 2006. He plays a wide range of stakes and his latest CardRunners video series, SNG Payout Analysis, explains how to effectively adjust to any tournament structure in the world. In his spare time he plays guitar, sings, and writes music.