Are you still struggling with which starting hands to play and which ones to fold, and how your position impacts preflop strategy? You’re not alone.
Let’s get this straight: this article isn’t some quick-fix poker strategy guide. It won’t give you generic poker tips or bankroll management advice. Instead, it offers you something slightly different.
This article provides a few range charts through which you can clearly see how certain starting hands should be played, helping to improve your preflop strategy. If you’re looking for in-depth strategies about preflop play, you’ll definitely like this article.
What is a Poker Range?
A poker range, simply put, is a collection of possible starting hands a player might have. We use the concept of “ranges” in poker because, in most cases, it’s impossible to precisely guess the opponent’s exact cards.
For example, if you’re playing No-Limit Hold’em and see the tightest player at the table raise preflop, you could estimate that their range is only AA or KK.
Or, if a player hasn’t folded for an hour and calls your raise, you might guess that their range could be any two random cards.
Of course, these are extreme examples. Most players’ starting hand ranges fall somewhere between these two scenarios.
How to Calculate Ranges
Analyzing ranges is a very tough skill to master. Only after studying a lot of poker theory and playing thousands upon thousands of hands can you improve at estimating ranges.
In simple terms, you need to play a lot of hands and observe your opponents’ showdown hands to better understand their strategies. This way, when you face them in the future, you’ll be more accurate in estimating their range.
How to Use Preflop Range Charts
Each position at the table has specific starting hand ranges. When you have a certain number of chips, shoving all-in with hands in this range can be profitable. Generally speaking, this is usually the case when you have around 20 big blinds or fewer.
These preflop range charts summarize the starting hand combinations that can be profitable to shove. By understanding these charts, you can go all-in and achieve +EV no matter what hands the players behind you hold.
We’ve provided five different preflop range charts for full-ring (9-player) tables and six-max (6-player) games, with various chip stacks. Below is how to use them:
- Know your chip stack.
- Find the corresponding range chart for your chip stack; if there isn’t one, use the closest.
- Locate your position at the table.
- Find the row corresponding to your starting hand (for example, pairs, Ace-high, etc.).
- As long as your hand is within the listed range, you can shove all-in.
Range Charts
9 Big Blinds (Full-Ring)
Early Positions
| Position | Pairs | Aces High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | 33+ | A7s+, A4s-A5s, ATo+ |
| UTG+1 | 22 | A6s, A8o-A9o |
| UTG+2 | A2s-A3s, A8o-A9o |
| Position | Kings High | Queens High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | K9s+, KQo | Q9s+ |
| UTG+1 | KJo | QJo |
| UTG+2 | KTo | QTo |
| Position | Jacks High | 10 High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | J9s+ | T9s |
| UTG+1 | J8s, JTo | T8s |
| UTG+2 | JTo |
Middle and Late Positions
| Position | 9 High | 8 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 97s | 87s |
| Hijack | 96s | 86s |
| Cutoff | 95s-96o | 85s+ |
| Position | 7 High | 6 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 76s | 65s |
| Hijack | 75s | 65s |
| Cutoff | 75s | 65s |
| Position | 5 High | 4 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 54s | 53s+ |
| Cutoff | 54s |
Button and Blinds
| Position | Kings High | Queens High |
|---|---|---|
| Button | K2s-K3s, K5o-K9o | Q2s-Q3s, Q7o |
| Small Blind | K2s-K3s, K5o-K9o | Q2s-Q4s, Q7o |
| Position | Jacks High | 10 High |
|---|---|---|
| Button | J2s-J9o | T2s-T5s |
| Small Blind | J2s-J9o | T2s-T8o |
12 Big Blinds (Full-Ring)
Early Positions
| Position | Pairs | Aces High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | 55+ | A8s+, AJo+ |
| UTG+1 | 44 | A6s-A7s, A9o+ |
| UTG+2 | 33 | A2s-A5s, A9o+ |
| Position | Kings High | Queens High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | K9s+, KQo | QTs+ |
| UTG+1 | KJo | QJo |
| UTG+2 | KJo | QTo |
| Position | Jacks High | 10 High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | J9s+ | T9s |
| UTG+1 | J8s, JTo | T8s |
| UTG+2 | JTo | T8s |
Middle and Late Positions
| Position | 9 High | 8 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 97s | 87s |
| Hijack | 96s | 86s |
| Cutoff | 95s+ | 85s+ |
| Position | 7 High | 6 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 76s | 65s |
| Hijack | 75s | 65s |
| Cutoff | 75s | 65s |
| Position | 5 High | 4 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 53s+ | |
| Cutoff | 54s |
Button and Blinds
| Position | Kings High | Queens High |
|---|---|---|
| Button | K2s-K5s, K6o-K9o | Q2s-Q5s, Q7o |
| Small Blind | K2s-K5s, K6o-K9o | Q2s-Q4s, Q7o |
| Position | Jacks High | 10 High |
|---|---|---|
| Button | J2s-J8o | T2s-T7o |
| Small Blind | J2s-J8o | T2s-T8o |
15 Big Blinds (Full-Ring)
Early Positions
| Position | Pairs | Aces High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | 66+ | A9s+, AJo+ |
| UTG+1 | 55 | A7s+, ATo+ |
| UTG+2 | 44 | A6s+, A5o+ |
| Position | Kings High | Queens High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | KTs+ | QTs+ |
| UTG+1 | K9s+, KQo | QJo |
| UTG+2 | KJo | QJo |
| Position | Jacks High | 10 High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | JTs+ | T9s |
| UTG+1 | J9s, JTo | T8s |
| UTG+2 | JTo | T7s |
Middle and Late Positions
| Position | 9 High | 8 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 98s | 87s |
| Hijack | 97s | 86s |
| Cutoff | 95s+ | 85s+ |
| Position | 7 High | 6 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 76s | 65s |
| Hijack | 75s | 65s |
| Cutoff | 75s+ | 64s |
| Position | 5 High | 4 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 54s | |
| Cutoff | 54s |
Button and Blinds
| Position | Kings High | Queens High |
|---|---|---|
| Button | K2s-K6s, K5o-K9o | Q5s-Q9s, Q6o |
| Small Blind | K2s-K5s, K5o-K8o | Q2s-Q5s, Q7o |
| Position | Jacks High | 10 High |
|---|---|---|
| Button | J2s-J8o | T2s-T7o |
| Small Blind | J2s-J8o | T2s-T8o |
18 Big Blinds (Full-Ring)
Early Positions
| Position | Pairs | Aces High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | 88+ | ATs+, AJo+ |
| UTG+1 | 66-77 | A5s-A9s, AQo+ |
| UTG+2 | 55 | A3s+, A9o+ |
| Position | Kings High | Queens High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | KTs+ | QTs+ |
| UTG+1 | KJo | QJo |
| UTG+2 | KJo | QTo |
| Position | Jacks High | 10 High |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | J9s+ | T9s |
| UTG+1 | J8s, JTo | T8s |
| UTG+2 | JTo | T7s |
Middle and Late Positions
| Position | 9 High | 8 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 98s | 87s |
| Hijack | 97s | 86s |
| Cutoff | 95s-96o | 85s-87o |
| Position | 7 High | 6 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 76s | 65s |
| Hijack | 75s | 65s |
| Cutoff | 75s | 65s |
| Position | 5 High | 4 High |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 54s | 53s+ |
| Cutoff | 54s |
Button and Blinds
| Position | Kings High | Queens High |
|---|---|---|
| Button | K2s-K5s, K5o-K9o | Q5s-Q9s, Q6o |
| Small Blind | K2s-K5s, K5o-K9o | Q2s-Q5s, Q6o |
| Position | Jacks High | 10 High |
|---|---|---|
| Button | J2s-J9o | T2s-T8o |
| Small Blind | J2s-J9o | T2s-T8o |
Please bear in mind that this is these are perfect ranges, from the point of view your opponents playing perfectly. All the other ranges are to be adjusted in cash games as well but since you know so much less about your opponents when playing tournaments, more abuse of those who play poorly and greater respect for tight players is warranted.
You Need to Choose the Right SpotsIf opponents are calling too loose, you need adjust your all-ins and tighten up. Obviously, the wider your opponents are calling here, the fewer hands that you can shove because you will be playing pots to win rotation and not by stacking (fortunately).
In tournament play, you should also be considering in-the-moment factors like how close it is to the money or a pay jump (bubble and all that), whether its the final table versus an earlier stage of near-final-table play. These scenarios have immense implications on your calling ranges as well as when-to-go-all-in strategy!
A few of these ranges — notably for the suited Aces, appear a bit strange. This is an important point because the smaller suited Ax tends to perform worse versus calling ranges than mid-suited Aces. Like A5 suited is a better shove than A7 suited in certain positions and chip stacks for example.
How to Memorize the Ranges
As Texas Hold’em has 169 starting hand combinations (from best to worst hands), each with multiple ranges for different table & player stack sizes, it´s very difficult or almost impossible to remember all of the charts. It could be counterproductive to try—so you are better off using that energy on something else.
Even if you already know the basics of preflop shoving ranges, getting a better and more precise grasp on them will help not only your short-stack game but also boost other areas of poker play.
Not only is memorizing these range charts not meant to be done, and the structure of them has nothing mnemonic about it because you do NOT want to try and play by your memory in order for you win rate rising. The thing to do is go hard and the right range will naturally stick with you over time.
A few things to keep in mind:
- Shoving with pairs is a good strategy. If you have less than 10 big blinds, you can shove all-in with any pair from any position. Waiting for top pairs with such a short stack isn’t practical.
- If you don’t have a pair, aim for suited high cards.
- Shoving with small suited cards preflop can cost you a lot of value, as they often don’t improve by the river. In comparison, suited high cards have a better chance of winning.
- A big card and a small card (like K5 offsuit) might be ahead of hands like T9 suited in a heads-up battle, but the latter plays better against an opponent’s calling range, so it’s better to shove with it.
- The closer you are to the big blind, the wider your shoving range should be. For instance, the range difference between early positions is smaller than that between the button and the small blind. The closer you are to the big blind, the fewer players there are with premium hands to act after you. So, if you’re in the small blind, feel free to shove a wide range, and even from the button or cutoff, you can shove with a broader range.
Common Preflop Ranges
Top 7%
If an opponent is extremely tight and opens from early or middle position, their range might consist of only the top 7% of hands:
- 88
- ATs, AQo
- KJs
Top 15%
Playing the top 15% of hands still indicates a tight player but may include larger offsuit Broadway cards and most suited Broadway cards and Aces.
- 66
- A5s, ATo
- K9s, KJo
- Q9s, JTs
Top 35%
For an aggressive player in late position, if previous players fold and they attempt to steal the blinds, their range might be as wide as the top 35% of hands:
- 33
- A2s, A5o
- K2s, K8o
- Q4s, Q9o
- J7s, J9o
- T7s
- 97s
- 87s
Top 60%
Only extremely loose and aggressive players would play this range, but it’s not unheard of.
Primarily short-stack players on the button or in the small blind would use the top 60% range, which includes:
- 22
- Ax
- K2s, K3o
- Q2s, Q5o
- J2s, J7o
- T2s, T7o
- 94s, 97o
- 84s
- 74s
- 64s
- 54s