Poker starting hands chart: which hands to play from every seat

A poker starting hands chart tells you which of the 169 possible Texas Hold’em hands to play from each seat at the table. The rule behind every chart is the same: the fewer players left to act behind you, the more hands you can open. In a 6-max cash game that means about 16% of hands under the gun and over 40% on the button.

The charts below are built for no-limit Hold’em cash games with 100 big blinds, which is the standard depth online. Each seat has a range written in shorthand you can copy, a percentage worked out from exact hand combinations, and a short note on why the borderline hands sit where they do. Further down you’ll find what changes at a full-ring table, what to do when someone has already raised, and how to defend your big blind.

How to read a starting hands chart

Almost every chart uses the same 13×13 grid, so it’s worth learning to read it once. Aces sit in the top-left corner and deuces in the bottom-right; each square is one hand type.

• Pocket pairs run down the diagonal, from AA to 22. There are 13 of them.
• Suited hands sit above the diagonal, marked with an “s”: AKs is ace-king of the same suit.
• Offsuit hands sit below it, marked with an “o”: AKo is ace-king of different suits.

That gives 13 pairs, 78 suited hands and 78 offsuit hands: 169 in total. They don’t come up equally often, though, because each type has a different number of card combinations:

Across all of them there are 1,326 two-card combinations. This is why a range’s percentage depends on what’s in it, not just how many squares it covers: KQo adds three times as many combinations as KQs.

Charts also use a shorthand that saves listing every hand:

• 22+ means every pair from 22 up to AA.
• A2s+ means every suited ace: A2s, A3s and so on up to AKs.
• K9s+ means K9s, KTs, KJs and KQs.
• AJo+ means AJo, AQo and AKo.

The 6-max opening chart (100 big blinds)

This chart covers the most common online format: six players, 100-big-blind stacks, and nobody has entered the pot before you. Each colour shows the earliest seat a hand is opened from. A hand you’d open under the gun is also opened from every later seat, so the ranges build on each other.

A standard open is a raise to 2.5 big blinds, or 3 big blinds from the small blind, where you’ll play out of position. Live games often use bigger opens, especially with limpers in the pot. Seat names follow our guide to poker positions.

Under the gun (UTG): 16.4%

22+, A2s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, 98s, AJo+, KQo

Five players still act after you, so the range leans on hands that hold up when someone wakes up with a strong one. Every pair goes in, because hitting a set wins big pots. Every suited ace goes in too, while offsuit aces stop at AJo.

That split surprises many players: A5s is an open, A9o a fold. The two hands look close, but they play very differently against the hands that call or re-raise an early open. Against AJ, AQ and AK, A9o wins only about 26% of the time, while A5s wins about 32%, because it can make flushes and the wheel straight. When A5s misses it’s easy to fold; A9o tends to make one pair with a weak kicker and lose a big pot with it.

Hijack (HJ): 20.4%

22+, A2s+, K7s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T8s+, 98s, 87s, ATo+, KJo+, QJo

One fewer player behind adds a handful of hands: ATo, KJo and QJo among the offsuit broadways, K8s and K7s, T8s and 87s. The change is small, and that’s normal. The ranges grow slowly until the cutoff and then jump on the button.

Cutoff (CO): 27.3%

22+, A2s+, K6s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, 54s, A8o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo

With only the button and blinds behind, the cutoff adds A9o and A8o, KTo, QTo and JTo, and the suited connectors down to 54s. Those connectors rarely win unimproved, but in position they make straights and flushes that win large pots.

Button (BTN): 41.8%

22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q5s+, J6s+, T6s+, 96s+, 85s+, 75s+, 64s+, 54s, A2o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o, 98o

The button acts last on every street after the flop, which is the biggest advantage in the game. Every ace and every suited king goes in, along with most suited hands and offsuit hands down to J9o and 98o. Only the two blinds can stop you, and they have to play the rest of the hand out of position.

Small blind (SB): 40.6%

22+, A2s+, K3s+, Q5s+, J6s+, T6s+, 96s+, 85s+, 75s+, 64s+, 54s, A2o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o

When everyone folds to the small blind, only the big blind is left, so the range stays almost as wide as the button’s. This chart uses a raise-or-fold strategy; some players also limp a part of their range from the small blind, which is harder to play well. The cost is position: whatever happens, you act first after the flop, which is why the open is a little bigger.

The percentages count combinations, not squares. That’s why the button can open 42% of hands while leaving a large part of the grid grey: most of the folded squares are offsuit hands with 12 combinations each.

Full ring: what changes with nine players

At a nine-handed table, three more players sit between the early seats and the button. Each of them could hold a strong hand, so the early ranges get much tighter. From the cutoff onwards the picture is close to 6-max: the cutoff has the same three players behind it in both formats.

Here’s how wide each seat opens at a full-ring table, with the hands it adds to the seat before. The ranges for the cutoff, button and small blind are close to their 6-max versions; the difference is all in the first five seats.

Two things stand out. Under the gun opens only about one hand in nine, mostly pairs, suited broadways and AJ+. And small pairs work their way in seat by seat: 66 opens from the first seat, 22 not until the hijack. A small pair needs to flop a set to win a big pot, which happens on roughly one flop in eight or nine, so it needs the deep, cheap spots that later seats provide.

Facing a raise: 3-bet, call or fold

Every chart above assumes nobody has opened before you. Once someone raises, your range should shrink sharply, because you’re no longer up against random hands: you’re up against a player who chose to put money in.

To show what that looks like, here’s a common spot: the cutoff opens to 2.5 big blinds and you’re on the button.

• 3-bet for value (about 3% of hands): QQ+, AK, AQs, AJs. These hands are happy to build a big pot.
• 3-bet as a bluff (about 2%): A5s, A4s, K9s, KTo. They hold an ace or king that makes the opener’s strongest hands less likely, and A5s and A4s can still make a straight or flush when called.
• Call (11.2%): pairs from 22 to JJ, suited broadways, suited connectors from 65s to JTs, AQo, AJo and KQo.
• Fold: everything else, including hands like A9o and K9o that you’d happily open yourself.

Out of position, from the blinds, most players switch to more 3-bets and fewer calls, since calling and playing the flop first is harder. The full picture is in our guide to 3-bet strategies by position.

The opener’s seat matters as much as yours. A cutoff opening 27% of hands can be 3-bet with AJs; an under-the-gun player opening 16% has far fewer weak aces, and AJs is closer to a call or a fold against that range.

Defending the big blind

The big blind defends more hands than any other seat, for a simple reason: you already have a big blind in the pot. When the button opens to 2.5 big blinds and the small blind folds, the pot holds 4 big blinds and you need to add only 1.5 more. That price asks you to win just 27% of the time to break even, which our guide to pot odds explains step by step.

Here’s a defence range for that spot, against a button opening about 42% of hands:

That’s about half of all hands. The 3-bets mix strong hands (TT+, AQ+, AJs) with suited hands that play well if called, such as A5s, K9s and 86s. Most of the defence is calling: every pair from 22 to 99, most suited hands, and offsuit hands down to about T8o, 87o and 76o.

The worst hands still go in the muck. Offsuit hands like J4o or 93o rarely make anything good, and when they hit, they lose to better kickers. The full strategy is in our article on defending the big blind.

One hand, different seats: A9o

To see how seat changes a decision, follow A9o around a 6-max table. It’s a hand many beginners play everywhere, and it shows why charts aren’t just lists of good and bad cards.

Against a random hand, A9o wins about 61% of the time, which makes it look strong. But nobody calls you with random hands. Under the gun, the hands that continue against you are mostly pairs and better aces, and against AJ, AQ or AK it wins only about 26%. Folding it from the first two seats costs you very little.

On the cutoff and button, A9o becomes an open. Fewer players remain who could hold a better ace, the blinds often fold, and when they call you’ll play the hand in position. The same two cards are a fold in one seat and a clear profit in another.

Calling raises with weak offsuit aces is one of the most expensive habits at low stakes. When an ace flops, you’ll often have the second-best kicker and pay off a hand like AJ or AQ on every street.

Using the chart: four quick spots

The quickest way to learn a chart is to run real situations through it. In each spot below it’s a 6-max game with 100-big-blind stacks; the question is always which chart applies and what it says.

1. Folded to you in the hijack with K♠ J♦. Nobody has entered the pot, so the opening chart applies. KJo is in the hijack range: raise to 2.5 big blinds.
2. Under the gun opens, you’re in the cutoff with Q♥ 8♥. Q8s is an open from the cutoff, but this pot is already raised by the tightest seat at the table. The opening chart no longer applies, and Q8s isn’t strong enough to call or 3-bet: fold.
3. The button opens, you’re in the big blind with 7♣ 6♦. You’re getting a good price, and 76o is in the defence range: call.
4. Everyone folds to you on the button with 9♠ 8♦. 98o is the last offsuit connector in the button range: raise. One seat earlier, in the cutoff, it would be a fold.

The second spot is where most mistakes happen. Players learn which hands to open and then call raises with the same hands, but a hand that’s good enough to open is often too weak to call with once someone has shown strength.

Common starting hand mistakes

Most preflop leaks come from a short list of habits:

• Playing the same hands from every seat. KTo is a fine button open and a losing open under the gun at a full-ring table.
• Limping. Calling the big blind instead of raising gives the blinds a cheap look and wins nothing when everyone folds. The charts on this page raise or fold.
• Calling raises with opening hands. A raise narrows the opponent’s range, and your calling range should shrink with it.
• Overrating suited cards. Being suited adds only a few percent of equity: against a random hand, K4s wins about 55% and K4o about 52%. K4s is still a weak hand outside the latest seats.
• Ignoring stack depth. Small pairs and suited connectors need deep stacks to pay off. With 25 big blinds they lose most of their value.

Short stacks and tournaments

The charts on this page are built for 100-big-blind stacks. As stacks get shorter, hands that need to hit the flop hard lose value first: small pairs, suited connectors and suited one-gappers rely on winning big pots after they hit, and short stacks can’t pay them off.

• Around 40–60 big blinds, trim the weakest suited connectors and gappers from early seats and keep the high cards.
• Around 20–25 big blinds, many players switch to smaller opens and fewer flats, re-shoving all-in with hands that would otherwise call.
• Below about 15 big blinds, tournament play usually becomes push-or-fold: either all-in or fold.

Antes also change the maths. They put more money in the pot before anyone acts, which makes stealing the blinds more attractive and widens late-position ranges. Our guide to tournament strategy covers these stages in more detail, and the bubble adds its own pressure near the money.

Adjusting a chart to your table

A chart is a starting point for an average table. A few common situations call for changes:

• Players limp in front of you. Raise more of your strong hands to isolate the limper, and make the raise bigger: an extra big blind for each limper is a common guideline. Hands like A9o or KTo improve, because a limper’s range is usually weak.
• Pots often go multiway. Pairs and suited hands gain value, since they can make sets, straights and flushes that win against several players. Offsuit high cards like KJo lose value.
• The players behind you fold a lot. Open wider from late position. Every fold wins the blinds.
• The players behind you 3-bet a lot. Tighten up and drop the weakest hands, which you’d have to fold to a re-raise anyway.

Learn one chart before collecting more. Memorise the 6-max ranges seat by seat, play a few thousand hands with them, and only then start adjusting. A chart you half-remember is worse than a simpler one you play correctly.

Starting hands FAQ