Methodology: How the Push/Fold Ranges Are Computed
Every chart, hand page, and verdict on RangeMyHand comes from one precomputed chip-EV Nash push/fold solution: data version 0.2.1, generated 2026-09-29, last verified 2026-09-29. Nothing is estimated or solved live, and the full output is free to download below.
The model
- Game. The action folds to you; you either shove all-in or fold. Each player left to act then calls or folds. Payoffs are in chips (chip-EV) — no ICM, no antes (the big blind ante variant is solved separately).
- Dead money. 1.5bb (small blind + big blind) is in the pot for every seat. A seat that has already posted a blind wins it back or loses it like any other chip.
- Equity. A 169×169 table of all-in equities between hand classes, estimated by Monte Carlo with 6,000 samples per matchup and a fixed seed, so every build reproduces the same numbers.
- Solver. Fictitious play for 220 iterations: each round the shover best-responds to the callers' average range and vice versa. A hand's push frequency is the share of rounds in which shoving beat folding.
- Fold equity. With k players behind, the shove takes the pot uncalled with probability (1 − c)k, where c is the share of hands a caller continues with. Each caller is modelled heads-up; multiway all-ins are not.
- Big Blind. Excluded: when the action folds to the Big Blind there is no shove-or-fold decision.
Players behind each seat
Fold equity depends on how many players can still call, so k is the real seat count behind the shover — the Button always has exactly the two blinds behind it, whatever the table size.
| Table | Seat | Players behind (k) |
|---|---|---|
| 6-Max | Under the Gun | 5 |
| 6-Max | Cutoff | 3 |
| 6-Max | Button | 2 |
| 6-Max | Small Blind | 1 |
| 9-Max | Under the Gun | 8 |
| 9-Max | Middle Position | 6 |
| 9-Max | Cutoff | 3 |
| 9-Max | Button | 2 |
| 9-Max | Small Blind | 1 |
Stack convention — read this before comparing charts
“10bb” on RangeMyHand means 10 big blinds behind the blinds already posted, for every player. Many published Nash charts count the total stack including the posted blind instead. The two conventions agree for seats that have not posted, but they diverge for the blinds — our Small Blind ranges come out wider than total-stack charts at the same number.
A re-solve on the total-stack convention is planned. When it ships, every chart, hand page, and dataset row updates together, because all copy on this site is generated from the data.
Verdicts
A hand is a shove when the solution pushes it at least 95% of the time, a fold at 5% or less, and mixed in between. Solved stacks run from 1 to 25bb; the charts publish 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20bb, and each hand page reports how deep the hand stays a shove across the full range.
Big blind ante variant
With a big blind ante the Big Blind posts 1 extra big blind for the whole table, so 2.5bb is in the pot before anyone acts instead of 1.5bb. More dead money makes a successful steal worth more, so every seat shoves wider: 2 to 23 percentage points more hands across the 54 published spots.
- Same equity matrix. The ante ranges (data version 0.1.0, generated 2026-10-02) are solved from the same 169×169 equity table as the no-ante ranges, version 0.2.1: same seed, 6,000 samples per matchup, 220 solver iterations. The only input that changes is the dead money, from 1.5bb to 2.5bb.
- Stack convention. N bb still means N big blinds behind everything already posted: the blinds and, for the Big Blind, the ante.
- Charts. Push/fold charts with a big blind ante compare both variants seat by seat.
- Dataset. push-fold-ranges-bb-ante.json and push-fold-ranges-bb-ante.csv, in the same format and under the same license as the files below.
Open dataset (CC BY 4.0)
Chip-EV Nash push/fold (shove-or-fold) frequencies for all 169 starting-hand classes, every seat that can open-shove in 6-max and 9-max, at stacks from 1 to 25 big blinds. Each row gives the push frequency and a shove/mixed/fold verdict. 38,025 rows in total. Free to use, including commercially, with attribution.
- push-fold-ranges.json — one entry per seat and stack, with 169 push frequencies in the order of the
handsarray. - push-fold-ranges.csv — one row per hand, seat, and stack.
- github.com/hasuwini77/push-fold-ranges — the same JSON and CSV as a public GitHub repository, to clone, fork, or cite.
CSV columns:
table,seat,players_behind,stack_bb,hand,push_freq,verdictAttribution (link back to this page):
RangeMyHand Nash push/fold ranges (www.rangemyhand.com), CC BY 4.0 — https://www.rangemyhand.com/methodologyLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
How to cite
RangeMyHand (2026). Nash push/fold ranges for 6-max and 9-max tournament poker, version 0.2.1. https://www.rangemyhand.com/methodologyLimits
Chip-EV ignores payout pressure, so near the bubble and at final tables correct ranges are usually tighter than these. The ranges are a study baseline for learning short-stack play away from the table, not a substitute for judgement about specific opponents.