Opening Ranges With 20 Big Blinds
With 20 Big Blinds The Smarter.Poker Reference Opens The Button With 21.4% Of Hands By Frequency, Against 25.2% At 100 Big Blinds, And The Chart Below Shows Every Hand.
Preflop Lesson From Smarter.Poker, Updated
The Button Chart At 20 Big Blinds
This Chart Comes From The Stack Depth Variants In The Same Smarter.Poker Preflop Reference, Which Adjust The 100 Big Blind Ranges For Shorter Stacks. They Are An Authored Teaching Reference For Six Handed Cash At One Hundred Big Blinds, Not A Solver Export, And No Solve Tree Or Checksum Is Attached To Them. The 20 Big Blind Variant Is An Authored Adjustment Of That Reference, Not A Separate Solve. Two Sizes Describe A Mixed Range And They Are Not The Same Number. The First Counts Every Hand At The Rate It Is Actually Played, So A Hand Opened Half The Time Counts Half. The Second Counts Any Hand The Range Plays At Least Some Of The Time, In Full.
| A | K | Q | J | T | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | AA100% | AKs100% | AQs100% | AJs100% | ATs100% | A9s100% | A8s85% | A7s65% | A6s50% | A5s100% | A4s90% | A3s70% | A2s55% |
| K | AKo100% | KK100% | KQs100% | KJs100% | KTs100% | K9s85% | K8s50% | K7s30% | K6s0% | K5s0% | K4s0% | K3s0% | K2s0% |
| Q | AQo100% | KQo100% | QQ100% | QJs100% | QTs100% | Q9s70% | Q8s35% | Q7s0% | Q6s0% | Q5s0% | Q4s0% | Q3s0% | Q2s0% |
| J | AJo100% | KJo100% | QJo85% | JJ100% | JTs100% | J9s75% | J8s30% | J7s0% | J6s0% | J5s0% | J4s0% | J3s0% | J2s0% |
| T | ATo100% | KTo75% | QTo50% | JTo55% | TT100% | T9s90% | T8s55% | T7s0% | T6s0% | T5s0% | T4s0% | T3s0% | T2s0% |
| 9 | A9o70% | K9o35% | Q9o0% | J9o0% | T9o25% | 99100% | 98s75% | 97s0% | 96s0% | 95s0% | 94s0% | 93s0% | 92s0% |
| 8 | A8o40% | K8o0% | Q8o0% | J8o0% | T8o0% | 98o0% | 88100% | 87s60% | 86s0% | 85s0% | 84s0% | 83s0% | 82s0% |
| 7 | A7o0% | K7o0% | Q7o0% | J7o0% | T7o0% | 97o0% | 87o0% | 77100% | 76s45% | 75s0% | 74s0% | 73s0% | 72s0% |
| 6 | A6o0% | K6o0% | Q6o0% | J6o0% | T6o0% | 96o0% | 86o0% | 76o0% | 6690% | 65s35% | 64s0% | 63s0% | 62s0% |
| 5 | A5o0% | K5o0% | Q5o0% | J5o0% | T5o0% | 95o0% | 85o0% | 75o0% | 65o0% | 5575% | 54s25% | 53s0% | 52s0% |
| 4 | A4o0% | K4o0% | Q4o0% | J4o0% | T4o0% | 94o0% | 84o0% | 74o0% | 64o0% | 54o0% | 4455% | 43s0% | 42s0% |
| 3 | A3o0% | K3o0% | Q3o0% | J3o0% | T3o0% | 93o0% | 83o0% | 73o0% | 63o0% | 53o0% | 43o0% | 3335% | 32s0% |
| 2 | A2o0% | K2o0% | Q2o0% | J2o0% | T2o0% | 92o0% | 82o0% | 72o0% | 62o0% | 52o0% | 42o0% | 32o0% | 2220% |
What Changes At 20 Big Blinds
Short Stacks Change Which Hands Make Money. With 20 Big Blinds, A Raise And A Call Before The Flop Already Commit A Large Share Of The Stack, So There Is Little Room To Outplay Anyone After The Flop. Hands That Win By Making Big Pairs And Strong Aces Gain Value, And Hands That Win By Making Disguised Draws And Implied Odds Lose It, Because There Is Not Enough Money Behind To Be Paid Off.
The Reference Does Not Simply Shrink Every Range. Under The Gun Opens 9.6% At 20 Big Blinds Against 8.4% At 100, The Button 21.4% Against 25.2%, And The Small Blind 25.3% Against 20.7%. The Mix Of Hands Shifts Toward High Cards And Pairs Even Where The Total Stays Close.
| Seat | At 20 BB | At 100 BB |
|---|---|---|
| Under The Gun | 9.6% | 8.4% |
| Cutoff | 14% | 16.8% |
| Button | 21.4% | 25.2% |
| Small Blind | 25.3% | 20.7% |
Using It In Tournaments
Twenty Big Blinds Is A Stack You Meet Constantly In Tournaments, Where Antes Add Dead Money To Every Pot And Make Stealing More Attractive Than It Is In A Cash Game. This Reference Is Built For A Six Handed Game Without Antes, So In A Tournament Treat It As The Shape Of A Short Stack Range Rather Than The Exact Numbers, And Widen Your Steals When Antes Are In Play.
A Common Guideline Is That Below About 15 Big Blinds A Player Switches From Opening With A Raise To Moving All In Or Folding, Because A Small Raise That Is Re-Raised Leaves No Good Option. The Lesson On M Ratio And Short Stacks Explains How To Measure That Point With M And Big Blinds.
Keep Learning
- M Ratio And Short Stack Play
- Button Opening Range In 6 Max Cash
- Preflop Opening Ranges By Position
- ICM Basics: Chips Are Not Money
Poker Terms In This Lesson
Practise It On Smarter.Poker
The Answer Above Is Complete. When You Want To Drill It, These Are The Matching Training Tools.
- Play Short Stack Ninja The Training Game For This Lesson.
- Open The Preflop Range Lab
- Open Jarvis Training Insights Jarvis Explains Your Training Decisions In Words.
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