TOURNAMENTS · FIELD NOTE
How to Play 20 Big Blinds Without Using Only Push-Fold
Play 20 big blinds with min-raises, open shoves, re-jams, calls, and low-SPR postflop plans adjusted for antes and ICM.
At 20 big blinds, shoving every playable hand is too simple and min-raising everything is too loose. You still have several tools: small opens, calls, small 3-bets, and re-jams. The trick is knowing which hands gain most from each route.
The short answer
Open small with hands that want weaker action and can respond to a shove. Open-shove hands that gain a lot when everyone folds and play awkwardly after a call. Always check the stacks behind and any payout pressure.
Three useful words
An open shove is moving all-in as the first raiser. A re-jam is shoving over an open. SPR is the remaining stack divided by the pot and tells you how quickly postflop play can become all-in.
Practice this spot first
Queen-jack suited on the button can raise small or shove. Use the blind reads in the hand, pick a route, and explain what kind of mistake you hope they make.
Keep min-raises in the range
A small open risks fewer chips and lets dominated hands continue. Strong hands often prefer it to an open shove. Marginal hands can still raise-fold when the stack and opponent ranges allow.
If the blinds re-jam too widely, tighten raise-folds and strengthen calls. If they overfold, expand small opens.
Use open shoves selectively
Shoving realizes fold equity and denies opponents the chance to re-jam. It works best for hands that dislike raise-folding or postflop play but retain equity when called. Risking 20bb to win blinds and antes is expensive, so the shove range is not simply every playable hand.
Build re-jams from fold equity
Against a late-position open, selected pairs, aces, broadways, and blocker hands can re-jam. Early-position ranges call more strongly, shrinking bluffs. Calculate how often the opener folds and how your hand performs against calls.
Anticipate an SPR near two
After a min-raise and call, one or two postflop bets can put the stack in. Top pair and strong draws gain commitment value; speculative floats lose room. Small flop sizes preserve options while setting up turns.
Add ICM to the correct players
Covered medium stacks may call much tighter near pay jumps. Covering stacks can apply pressure, but short stacks behind and payout structure matter. Do not turn “ICM” into a blanket command to shove wider.
Rule of thumb: At 20bb, preflop strategy is a menu. Choose the branch that creates the best fold equity, realization, and future SPR.
Train the hands that switch branches
Find hands that mix between min-raising and shoving, then change one blind stack or tendency. Predict which way the mix moves. Boundary hands expose the strategic tradeoff between immediate fold equity and postflop value far better than repeatedly drilling obvious premium jams or folds.
Keep studying
Contrast this stack with the shove-or-min-raise decisions at 15 big blinds and the extra non-all-in options available at 25 big blinds. If players behind are driving your choice, work through how squeeze pressure changes a preflop plan.