PKO Preflop Ranges

The three inputs

1. Effective stack. The smaller of your stack and the relevant villain's, in big blinds.
2. Cover / covered / equal. Do you have villain covered, are you covered, or is it roughly equal?
3. Bounty ratio. Villain's bounty divided by the tournament's average bounty.

Shove ranges — you're the shortest

When you have the shortest stack in the pot, you get called wider than Nash predicts because your bounty is up for grabs. Tighten by roughly 3–5% of hands compared to chip-EV Nash at 8–15bb. Weak Kx and Qx offsuit from the CO/BTN drop out first.

Shove ranges — you cover

Covering shoves are stronger than Nash. You threaten a bounty, so fold equity goes up. From the SB at 12bb covering the BB, opening shove range widens toward the top ~55–60% of hands.

Call-off ranges — you cover

The signature PKO adjustment. Villain bounty ratio drives everything:

• Ratio 1.0× (average bounty): widen chip-EV Nash by ~15%.
• Ratio 2.0×: widen by ~30%.
• Ratio 3.0×+: widen by ~50%. Off-suit broadways and small pairs are almost always calling.

Call-off ranges — you're covered

Play closer to chip-EV Nash. You can't win the bounty, so the only bounty consideration is the one on your head that villain collects if you call and lose. Slightly tighter than pure Nash.

3-bet ranges

Non-all-in 3-bets are rare below 20bb in shove-fold PKO play. At 20–25bb, 3-bet-shoving as a coverer widens meaningfully against any big-bounty opener. As the shorter stack, avoid non-all-in 3-bets — you invite bounty-priced re-jams behind you.

Get the exact ranges live

Every range on this page is a rough anchor. The exact hand-by-hand answer depends on the specific bounty math for your spot. The MYPKRPRO Preflop Pro engine computes it live for any 4–25bb spot; the Post Session Analyzer replays your history against the same engine and shows per-hand EV loss.

Related: PKO strategy, what is PKO poker.