Preflop Range Chart by Position: What to Open and Why

A preflop range chart shows which of the 169 starting hands to raise when everyone before you has folded. The same hand can be a clear raise on the button and a clear fold under the gun, so the chart is drawn per position. This guide gives a simple 6-max chart for UTG, the hijack, the cutoff and the button, explains how to read it and shows how to test any hand against a range.

The short version

• A chart answers one question: which hands do I open (raise first in) from this seat?
• The earlier your seat, the more players still act behind you, so the range is tighter: about 14.5% of hands from UTG, 18.6% from the hijack, 26.4% from the cutoff and 43.3% from the button in the chart below.
• Each wider range contains the narrower one. Moving one seat later adds hands, it never removes any.
• This is a simplified learning chart. Solver charts mix some hands (raise sometimes, fold sometimes) and change with stack depth, rake and format.

How to read the chart

The grid has 13 rows and 13 columns, one for each rank from ace to deuce. Pairs sit on the diagonal (AA, KK, ... 22), suited hands above it (AKs, QJs) and offsuit hands below it (AKo, QJo). A pair has 6 card combinations, a suited hand 4 and an offsuit hand 12, which is 1,326 combinations in all. If the notation is new, read Starting hands first.

A coloured square means "raise this hand if you are first in". The colour is the earliest seat that opens it, and every later seat opens it too. A dark square is a fold from all four seats.

Opening ranges by position

The assumptions are a 6-max cash game, 100 big blinds, a raise to about 2.5 big blinds and nobody has entered the pot yet. Percentages are shares of the 1,326 combinations and were counted from the exact ranges below.

Why the range widens as you move later

Opening from UTG means five players can still wake up with a strong hand, and you will often play the rest of the hand out of position. On the button only the two blinds remain, and you act last on every later street. That is why a hand such as K9o is a fold from the first three seats and a raise from the button.

You can see the effect with the poker odds calculator. Take a hand you might face an opponent with and run it against a range:

• AJo has 49.0% equity against the UTG range but 59.7% against the button range.
• KQo has 42.1% against UTG and 53.2% against the button.
• 76s has 35.7% against UTG and 39.8% against the button, so it needs position and deep stacks to be worth playing.

Against a tight early-position range even good-looking offsuit hands are dominated, so you play fewer of them from early seats.

Why these hands and not others

• Suited aces A5s–A2s are opened from every seat. They make the nut flush, can make a wheel straight and block the strongest hands of the opponent. Offsuit A9o is much weaker because it is often dominated.
• Suited connectors (98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s) join the range as you move later. Their value comes from making straights and flushes, so they need chips behind and a late seat.
• Small pairs win by making sets. From the cutoff and button they are cheap to open; from UTG only 55 and above are included here.
• Offsuit broadways (ATo, KQo, QJo) look strong but are often dominated, so they appear early only in their best forms.

What this chart does not tell you

• It is a simplified chart. Solvers raise some hands only part of the time and open some suited hands that are missing here.
• It covers raising first in. Facing a raise (calling or 3-betting) needs a different range, see 3-bet basics.
• Conditions change it. Antes, shorter stacks, a large rake and weak or very aggressive opponents all move the numbers. Sit-and-go and tournament play is covered in the sit-and-go guide and the ICM guide.
• A chart is not a plan. After the flop you still need pot odds and position (see poker positions).

How to practise

Learn the UTG range first, because it is the core of all the others. Then add the hijack, cutoff and button as extra hands. When you review a session, find the hands you opened from the wrong seat and see whether they were in the chart.

Try the calculator

Type a hand such as AJo against a range such as 55+, A9s+, KTs+, ATo+, KQo or against 15% (the top 15% of hands) in the poker odds calculator to see how a hand fares against a position range.

What to read next

• Poker positions: why the button is the strongest seat.
• Starting hands: tiers and notation for all 169 hands.
• 3-bet basics: what to do when someone raises before you.
• Pot odds: the maths for the flop and later streets.