Push/Fold at 10BB: Which Hands to Shove, Seat by Seat

Published 2026-10-27

A 10BB push/fold chart is really four charts, one per seat. At 10BB the 6-max chart shoves 13% of hands from under the gun and 58% from the small blind, with the cutoff at 24% and the button at 33%. This guide shows what those ranges look like hand by hand, which hands are genuine mixes, and how ten big blinds differs from eight and twelve.

How wide is the 10BB push range in each seat?

The table compares the four 6-max seats at 8BB, 10BB and 12BB. Read across a row to see how one seat tightens as the stack grows, and read down a column to see how position widens the range. Each seat name links to its 10BB chart.

The seat order is the same at every stack: under the gun is tightest, then the cutoff, the button and the small blind. The small blind is the outlier. It has only the big blind left to act behind it, so it shoves 58% at 10BB, almost twice as wide as the button's 33%. If you are going to study one seat first, study that one, then see push/fold by position for the 5BB and 8BB versions.

Which hands are clear shoves at 10BB, and which are mixes?

The chart does not only say shove or fold. For a handful of hands it says to shove a share of the time, and which hands those are changes by seat. The table lists how often a few representative hands are shoved from each 6-max seat at 10BB. Each hand name links to its own page, where you can see it in every seat and stack.

Pocket fives is a shove from every seat. Ace-ten offsuit is a shove from the cutoff onward but only 70% from under the gun. Suited gappers and connectors such as 98s and 76s are where position matters most: 76s goes from 0% under the gun to 58% in the cutoff, 83% on the button and 98% in the small blind. A weak ace such as A2o is a 56% shove on the button and a 100% shove in the small blind.

What are the marginal hands at 10BB?

The chart marks a hand as marginal when it is shoved between roughly a third and two thirds of the time. At 10BB under the gun that list is QTs, JTs, and KQo; in the cutoff it is KTo, QJo, K8s, 76s, and 97s; on the button it is 96s and A2o. The small blind has no hands in that mixing band at 10BB. You can see each of these on the grid for the 6-max cutoff 10BB chart and the 6-max button 10BB chart.

A mixed frequency is not a sign you are doing something wrong whichever way you go. It means the hand is close to break-even for the chart's assumptions, so the cost of a wrong guess is small. Spend your study time on the clear shoves and clear folds first, and treat the marginal hands as the last thing to memorize. The memorization guide lays out an order that works.

How is 10BB different from 8BB and 12BB?

The ranges move by more than the headline percentages suggest, because the hands that drop out are the marginal ones at the edge. Under the gun, ace-ten offsuit is a 100% shove at 8BB, 70% at 10BB and 29% at 12BB. In the cutoff, K9s goes from 100% to 93% to 81%. Ten big blinds sits in the middle of that slide, which is why a chart you learned for one depth will mislead you at another.

Overall, the small blind gives up 4 points between 8BB and 10BB, the button 2, the cutoff 3 and under the gun 3. From 10BB to 12BB the changes are 6, 3, 3 and 2 points in the same order. If your stack is between two depths, use the shallower chart for a conservative read, or look up both and compare. The hub pages for 8BB, 10BB and 12BB put every seat on one page.

Does 10BB look different at a 9-max table?

Only for the early seats. The cutoff, button and small blind charts are the same in 6-max and 9-max, but under the gun is tighter at a full table because more players act behind it: 9% at 10BB in 9-max against 13% in 6-max. 9-max also adds a middle-position seat that shoves 11% at 10BB. The 9-max guide goes through every seat, and the 9-max UTG 10BB chart shows the grid.

Why does the small blind shove so much more than everyone else?

Shoving is profitable when it wins the blinds often enough, and when it is called, has enough equity to justify the risk. The small blind faces exactly one player who can call, the big blind, and that player has to risk their whole stack to call. With so few opponents the chart can shove nearly any hand with some value, which is why the small blind pushes 58% of hands at 10BB and still 40% at 20BB. Compare the button, which has two players to get through and pushes 33% at 10BB and 20% at 20BB.

The practical lesson is to avoid limping or min-raising your way through the small blind at this depth when the chart says to shove. Those hands are not close: even a weak offsuit ace such as A2o is a 100% shove from there. Browse the 6-max small blind 10BB chart to see exactly how little is left outside the range.

How do I study a 10BB chart so it sticks?

Start with the anchors: the hands that are shoved from every seat, such as pocket fives in the table above. They cost nothing to remember because the answer never changes. Then learn the boundary for one seat at a time, beginning with the button and the small blind because you will be in those seats most often when you are short. Only after that add the cutoff and under the gun.

Test yourself by seat and stack rather than by rereading the chart. A drill that deals you a random hand in a random seat at 10BB will show quickly which of your boundaries are soft. The hands most likely to be soft are the suited gappers and the weak offsuit aces, which move the most between seats in the table above. The free trainer does this, and every chart linked from this page is free to browse without an account.

What if my stack is not exactly 10BB?

Real stacks are rarely round numbers. The app has charts at 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 and 20 big blinds, so you round to the nearest depth. A stack of 9.4BB is closest to the 10BB chart, and a stack of 11BB sits between the 10BB and 12BB charts. When in doubt, look at both neighbours: the numbers in the first table show how much a seat changes between them, and the hands that differ are the marginal ones near the edge of the range rather than the clear shoves.

Remember that your effective stack is the smaller of your stack and the largest stack still to act behind you, not simply your own chip count. If you have 10BB but the player on the button has 6BB, the 10BB chart overstates what you need to worry about. The charts also assume a standard structure with a big blind and a small blind and no ante for the spots on this page; for ante structures there is a separate set of ante charts.

What should I do at 10BB when I am not first in?

Every number on this page assumes the action folds to you. If someone has already shoved or opened, the decision is a different one, and the chart on this page does not cover it. This page covers only the spots where the action folds to you.

Where the action does fold to you, the routine is short. Count your big blinds, work out how many players are left to act behind you, open the chart for that seat and stack, and shove or fold. The chart hub has every combination, and the push or fold guide explains why shoving beats the alternatives at this depth.

Do the 10BB charts account for ICM?

No. They are chip-EV Nash charts, with every chip valued the same. In the early and middle stages of a tournament that is a sound approximation. Near the bubble or at a final table, the price of busting rises and the right ranges are tighter than these, so read ICM vs chip-EV push/fold before deciding how far to deviate. If you want to know where the numbers come from, see Nash push/fold charts explained.

FAQ

What hands should I push at 10BB?

It depends on your seat. On the 6-max chart, 10BB under the gun pushes 13% of hands, the cutoff 24%, the button 33% and the small blind 58%. Look up your exact seat on the 10BB chart hub instead of memorizing one range.

Is 10BB the point where I should start shoving?

Ten big blinds is where the push/fold chart is most useful, but it is not a switch. The button still pushes 26% at 15BB and 20% at 20BB, so the charts keep applying beyond 10BB, just with narrower ranges. Under the gun and in the cutoff the range shrinks fastest as the stack grows.

Do the 10BB charts account for ICM?

No. They are chip-EV Nash charts, which treat every chip as equally valuable. Near a pay jump or at a final table, treat them as a baseline and tighten from there.

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