Push/fold
How Wide Should the Big Blind Call a Shove? Nash Calling Ranges by Seat and Stack
It depends mostly on who shoved. At 10 big blinds, with a big blind ante, the big blind calls a small blind shove with 53.5% of hands. Against the button it calls 35.1%. Against an under-the-gun shove it calls 11.5%, barely one hand in nine.
At 3.5 big blinds or less, the big blind calls with every hand, whoever shoved. These are chip-EV Nash numbers: every chip counts the same, and neither the shover nor the big blind could gain by changing ranges. They come from the same solve as the push/fold chart, which draws each range as a grid.
Big blind calling range by shover's seat, 2 to 25 big blinds
Each cell is the share of all 1,326 starting hands the big blind calls with. The stack is the effective stack: the shorter of the shover's stack and yours after you pay the big blind ante. If you start the hand in the big blind with 11 big blinds and the shover has more, read the 10 column. Click a seat to open its grid at 10 big blinds.
| Shover | 2 BB | 3 BB | 4 BB | 5 BB | 6 BB | 8 BB | 10 BB | 12 BB | 15 BB | 20 BB | 25 BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UTG | 100.0% | 100.0% | 96.4% | 65.9% | 35.4% | 17.8% | 11.5% | 8.3% | 5.9% | 4.7% | 3.8% |
| UTG+1 | 100.0% | 100.0% | 95.5% | 65.9% | 39.1% | 19.8% | 14.0% | 10.0% | 7.8% | 5.1% | 3.8% |
| MP | 100.0% | 100.0% | 96.4% | 67.4% | 42.1% | 24.9% | 16.6% | 11.9% | 8.3% | 5.9% | 5.1% |
| Lojack | 100.0% | 100.0% | 96.4% | 68.9% | 43.9% | 27.6% | 19.5% | 14.8% | 11.5% | 7.8% | 5.9% |
| Hijack | 100.0% | 100.0% | 96.4% | 73.5% | 49.9% | 31.8% | 24.3% | 19.2% | 13.4% | 9.7% | 7.8% |
| Cutoff | 100.0% | 100.0% | 97.3% | 75.6% | 54.1% | 36.0% | 29.7% | 24.3% | 18.4% | 13.4% | 10.9% |
| Button | 100.0% | 100.0% | 97.3% | 78.0% | 62.0% | 44.5% | 35.1% | 29.7% | 25.5% | 18.4% | 15.2% |
| Small blind | 100.0% | 100.0% | 95.5% | 82.5% | 74.7% | 61.1% | 53.5% | 47.8% | 40.6% | 33.0% | 28.4% |
The rows are close together at 4 big blinds and far apart at 10. Short, the price decides almost everything. Deeper, what matters is how strong a hand had to be to shove from that seat. An under-the-gun player shoving 10 big blinds has eight players behind and shoves only 14.6% of hands, so the big blind needs a hand with about 42% equity against that range, and few hands have it. A small blind shoving 10 big blinds has one player behind and shoves 71.9%.
What equity does the big blind need to call a shove?
At 10 big blinds you have 1 big blind posted, so calling a small blind shove costs 9 more. The pot you win is both stacks plus the 1 big blind ante, 21 big blinds, so you need 9 ÷ 21, or 42.9%. Against any other seat the small blind's half blind is in there too: 9 ÷ 21.5, or 41.9%. For any stack S it is S − 1 over 2S + 1, or over 2S + 1.5.
| Stack | Vs the small blind | Vs any other seat |
|---|---|---|
| 3 BB | 28.6% | 26.7% |
| 5 BB | 36.4% | 34.8% |
| 8 BB | 41.2% | 40.0% |
| 10 BB | 42.9% | 41.9% |
| 12 BB | 44.0% | 43.1% |
| 15 BB | 45.2% | 44.4% |
| 20 BB | 46.3% | 45.8% |
| 25 BB | 47.1% | 46.6% |
That is a low bar against a small blind shoving 71.9% of hands, which is why the big blind calls more than half the deck there. Against an under-the-gun shove the price is almost the same, 41.9%, but against a 14.6% shoving range only 11.5% of hands get there.
Which hands call a shove at 10 big blinds
- Vs the small blind (53.5%): 22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J4s+, T6s+, 97s+, 87s, A2o+, K2o+, Q4o+, J7o+, T8o+
- Vs the button (35.1%): 22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T9s, A2o+, K7o+, Q9o+, JTo
- Vs the cutoff (29.7%): 22+, A2s+, K6s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, A2o+, K9o+, QTo+
- Vs UTG (11.5%): 55+, A8s+, KJs+, ATo+, KQo
When does the big blind start folding?
At 4 big blinds, and only the worst hands: against a small blind shove that is 72o, 62o, 52o, 42o and 32o. By 6 big blinds it folds a quarter of the deck against the small blind and almost two-thirds against under the gun.
How deep each hand still calls
The deepest effective stack, in big blinds, at which the big blind still calls a shove from each seat. “25+” means the hand calls at every stack the solve covers.
| Hand | Vs SB | Vs button | Vs cutoff | Vs hijack | Vs UTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 23.5 | 18 | 14.5 | 12 | 7.5 |
| 55 | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 20.5 | 11 |
| 77 | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 14.5 |
| A2o | 25+ | 14 | 11 | 9 | 6 |
| A5o | 25+ | 18.5 | 14 | 11 | 7 |
| A9o | 25+ | 25+ | 21.5 | 16.5 | 9 |
| ATo | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 20.5 | 11.5 |
| AJo | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 13.5 |
| AQo | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 20 |
| A5s | 25+ | 25+ | 19.5 | 14.5 | 9 |
| K2o | 13 | 7.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5 |
| K9o | 25+ | 13.5 | 10 | 8.5 | 6 |
| KTo | 25+ | 19 | 13.5 | 10.5 | 7 |
| KQo | 25+ | 25+ | 25+ | 17.5 | 11 |
| QJo | 25+ | 17 | 13 | 10.5 | 7 |
| JTs | 25+ | 16.5 | 12.5 | 11 | 8 |
| T9s | 18.5 | 11.5 | 10 | 9 | 7 |
Ace-deuce offsuit calls a small blind shove at any stack up to 25 big blinds, a button shove up to 14 and an under-the-gun shove only up to 6. King-queen offsuit calls the button at every depth and stops calling under the gun above 11.
Why published calling ranges disagree
The biggest difference is the ante. PokerStrategy publishes a heads-up table from HoldemResources. With no ante at 10 big blinds it has the big blind calling 38.5% of hands, and this solver gets 37.3%. Add a big blind ante and the call widens to about half the deck: Poker Level Up's charts show about 38% without one and 53% with one, and this solve has 53.5%. If your chart has no ante and your tournament plays one, you are folding too much in the big blind.
Players at real tables call much tighter than any chart. Greg Raymer wrote in Card Player in 2023 that against an 8 big blind small blind shove, most players call with only 15 to 30% of their hands, where a good caller is at about 58%. His hand was five-handed with a slightly smaller ante. This solve has 61.1% there.
A heads-up chart only covers a small blind shove. Read one against an earlier seat and you will call far too wide. Every number here is also chip-EV. Near the money the big blind needs more than the price above, and the bubble factor chart says how much more.
How these numbers were made
A Nash shove-or-fold solve, nine-handed, with blinds of 0.5 and 1 big blind and a 1 big blind ante. The shover is first in. Equities come from a 169 × 169 matrix of hand-against-hand all-in equities. Each seat's shoving range and the big blind's calling range are solved against each other, so a wider shove brings a wider call. The shove percentages article gives the other side of the same solve.
Two lessons play these spots as hands: Calling a shove and Calling ranges are tighter.