In chapter 15 of Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Jonathan Little explains that once you drop below 5 big blinds, you no longer have the normal strategic tools—your job is to find chances to get all-in with acceptable equity and, when possible, some fold equity. He emphasizes you should rarely reach this point; if you do, the correct approach is urgent, practical, and largely driven by pot odds.
1BB: Take Almost Any Reasonable Price
With 1BB, Little’s core idea is that you should be trying to get all-in in spots where the price is so good that even weak hands are worth it.
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If action folds to you (especially in late position), you’re often risking very little to win a meaningful amount of dead money.
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In early position, shoving can trigger limps or an isolation raise behind you, which can improve your situation by creating a heads-up pot with strong odds.
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When facing a raise in front, the pot odds can become so favorable that folding is rarely correct—only the very worst hands become folds, because even “bad” hands usually retain some baseline equity.
The theme: when you’re getting extremely good odds, your hand quality matters less than people think.
3BB: Still Desperate, but You Have Choices
At around 3BB, you still need to get all-in frequently, but you can be slightly more selective because:
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You have a little fold equity in some spots.
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You are not forced to take every marginal situation immediately.
Little suggests:
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Open-shove readily when folded to you (especially from middle/late position).
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Call raises in good spots, particularly against loose raisers, because you often meet the equity needed to continue.
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Avoid marginal calls against tight early-position opens when better opportunities are likely to appear soon.
4–5BB: Shove Very Wide When Folded To
With 4–5BB, you regain a sliver of fold equity—enough that open-shoving late position becomes extremely attractive.
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On the button, if everyone folds to you, Little advocates shoving very wide (often any two cards), because the combination of fold equity + dead money makes it profitable.
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If you expect no fold equity (for example, opponents call extremely wide), then you should prioritize hands with stronger raw showdown equity rather than “any two.”
When someone opens in front of you and you have ~5BB, he recommends shoving hands that are likely to have around 40% equity or better against that opener’s range—meaning you can go lighter versus loose openers than versus tight ones.
Mental Game: Don’t Quit Too Early
Little stresses that you shouldn’t mentally give up just because you’re very short. Comebacks happen because:
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Your stack still has real equity.
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A couple of doubles can move you back into a playable zone.
His caution is not “gamble wildly,” but rather “take the correct all-in spots aggressively and don’t forfeit your tournament equity by surrendering.”
Playing Against Short Stacks: Isolate and Price Them Out
Switching perspective, Little explains that opponents can play correctly against tiny stacks by:
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Isolating: when a short stack shoves and you cover, re-raising small (rather than just calling) can discourage others from entering, reducing the short stack’s chance to realize multiway “lottery” equity.
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Balancing isolation raises: if you only isolate with weak hands, you become exploitable. So you should use the same isolation sizing with both strong hands and playable medium hands.
The goal is to get heads-up with decent odds and prevent the short stack from benefiting from a multiway pot.
Defending the Big Blind vs 3–5BB Shoves
Little’s main point: pot odds often force extremely wide calls when you’re in the big blind and facing a very small shove.
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Versus a 3BB shove, the price is commonly so good that you can call with almost any two cards, because you need a surprisingly low win percentage.
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Even versus a 5BB shove, many hands remain profitable or close to it—though he recommends tightening slightly with the absolute worst holdings, especially if calling and losing would meaningfully damage your stack.
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As pay jumps/bubble pressure increases, he advises calling a bit tighter than pure chip-EV would suggest, but still not over-folding when the odds are enormous.
Key Takeaways
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Under 5BB is a pot-odds emergency. You’re mostly choosing when to get all-in, not how to outplay people post-flop.
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1BB: take almost any spot with strong odds; folding is rarely correct.
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3BB: still must get in often, but you can avoid the worst spots versus tight ranges.
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4–5BB: shove extremely wide in late position when folded to; tighten only if opponents call too wide.
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Versus tiny shoves in the big blind: call very wide because the math demands it, adjusting slightly for tournament life and payout pressure.