The 3 most expensive push/fold mistakes in €5 MTTs
In low buy-in MTTs (€1–5), most players don’t lose their tournament on a big failed bluff or a bad river call: they lose it slowly, on a short stack, through preflop decisions that look harmless. Here are the three most common push/fold mistakes at these stakes — and the easiest to fix.
1. Raise-folding with fewer than 12 big blinds
The classic mistake: min-raising ATo at 10 big blinds "to see what happens", then folding to an all-in. You just gave away 20% of your stack without seeing it through. Below 12 big blinds, a raise mathematically commits you: if you are not ready to play for your stack, your hand was a fold — and if you are, the open-shove is almost always superior, because it maximizes pressure on the blinds and removes tough postflop decisions.
The fix: below 12 big blinds, drop the raise from your first-in arsenal. Only two options, push or fold, according to the Nash ranges for your position.
2. Calling a shove with the range you would shove yourself
Shoving K9s on the button at 10 big blinds is correct. Calling a 10bb shove with K9s in the big blind almost never is. The difference is fundamental: when you shove, a large part of your profit comes from fold equity — opponents fold and you scoop the blinds. When you call, fold equity is zero: you need a hand that actually wins at showdown against the opposing range.
Calling ranges are therefore much tighter than shoving ranges, and they tighten further near the bubble under ICM pressure. If you remember one thing: "I would shove this hand" has never been a reason to call an all-in.
3. Waiting for a premium instead of using your position
At 8 big blinds, many low-stakes players fold 54s on the button and A4o in the small blind, "waiting for something better". The problem: every orbit eats 15 to 20% of their stack, and "better" statistically doesn’t come often enough. From the button or the small blind, with only one or two players left to fold out, the correct shoving range exceeds 40% of hands — a far cry from just pairs and big Aces.
The fix: learn your ranges by position, not by "hand strength". A mediocre hand on the button at 8 big blinds is often a profitable shove; the same hand UTG is an obvious fold. Position, not the beauty of your hand, makes the decision.
How to fix these mistakes for good
Knowing these three principles isn’t enough: when it is time to click, under tournament pressure, muscle memory decides. The good news is that push/fold can be drilled exactly like scales — a few 5-minute sessions a day on generated spots are enough for the ranges to become reflexes.
Turn these principles into reflexes: train on real spots, for free.
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