Poker range chart

defending the big blind

The widest chart in poker, for one reason.

The button raises, the small blind folds, and you are in the big blind with a bet already in front of you. That money is no longer yours, and it makes calling cheaper for you than for anybody else at the table. This chart continues with 40.6% of hands: 5.9% as a re raise and 34.7% as a call.

Big blind versus a button raise

Six handed, 100 big blinds, a standard raise from the button and the small blind out of the way.

Big blind versus a button raise. Six handed, 100 big blinds, a standard raise from the button and the small blind out of the way. Suited hands sit above the diagonal, pairs on it, offsuit hands below it. R is raise, C is call, F is fold.
Higher card	A	K	Q	J	T	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2
A	AA R	AKs R	AQs R	AJs R	ATs C	A9s C	A8s C	A7s C	A6s C	A5s R	A4s R	A3s C	A2s C
K	AKo R	KK R	KQs R	KJs C	KTs C	K9s C	K8s C	K7s C	K6s C	K5s C	K4s C	K3s C	K2s C
Q	AQo R	KQo C	QQ R	QJs C	QTs C	Q9s C	Q8s C	Q7s C	Q6s C	Q5s C	Q4s F	Q3s F	Q2s F
J	AJo C	KJo C	QJo C	JJ R	JTs C	J9s C	J8s C	J7s C	J6s F	J5s F	J4s F	J3s F	J2s F
T	ATo C	KTo C	QTo C	JTo C	TT R	T9s C	T8s C	T7s C	T6s F	T5s F	T4s F	T3s F	T2s F
9	A9o C	K9o C	Q9o C	J9o C	T9o C	99 C	98s C	97s C	96s C	95s F	94s F	93s F	92s F
8	A8o C	K8o F	Q8o F	J8o F	T8o F	98o C	88 C	87s C	86s C	85s F	84s F	83s F	82s F
7	A7o C	K7o F	Q7o F	J7o F	T7o F	97o F	87o F	77 C	76s C	75s C	74s F	73s F	72s F
6	A6o C	K6o F	Q6o F	J6o F	T6o F	96o F	86o F	76o F	66 C	65s C	64s F	63s F	62s F
5	A5o C	K5o F	Q5o F	J5o F	T5o F	95o F	85o F	75o F	65o F	55 C	54s C	53s F	52s F
4	A4o C	K4o F	Q4o F	J4o F	T4o F	94o F	84o F	74o F	64o F	54o F	44 C	43s F	42s F
3	A3o C	K3o F	Q3o F	J3o F	T3o F	93o F	83o F	73o F	63o F	53o F	43o F	33 C	32s F
2	A2o C	K2o F	Q2o F	J2o F	T2o F	92o F	82o F	72o F	62o F	52o F	42o F	32o F	22 C

R Three bet
C Call
F Fold

Two things in this grid usually raise an eyebrow. The orange block is not only the strongest hands: A5s and A4s are in it as well, and they are there because a re raise made up entirely of premium hands is a re raise your opponent can fold to every time without ever being wrong. And the green block reaches a long way down the suited columns, because a hand that is cheap to see a flop with and easy to fold afterwards is worth exactly that price and no more.

The counterweight is position. You play every later street first in this seat, so the case for stretching this range further is weaker than the price alone suggests. Wide, but not limitless.

three betting the button

Same grid, better seat, much narrower answer.

Now the cutoff raises and you are on the button. Nothing of yours is in the pot yet, so the price argument disappears and the chart narrows to 13.7% of hands: 6.2% re raised and 7.5% called. What you gain instead is position for the rest of the hand, every time.

Button versus a cutoff raise

Six handed, 100 big blinds, one player has raised in front of you and the blinds have yet to act.

Button versus a cutoff raise. Six handed, 100 big blinds, one player has raised in front of you and the blinds have yet to act. Suited hands sit above the diagonal, pairs on it, offsuit hands below it. R is raise, C is call, F is fold.
Higher card	A	K	Q	J	T	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2
A	AA R	AKs R	AQs R	AJs C	ATs C	A9s F	A8s F	A7s F	A6s F	A5s R	A4s R	A3s F	A2s F
K	AKo R	KK R	KQs R	KJs R	KTs C	K9s F	K8s F	K7s F	K6s F	K5s F	K4s F	K3s F	K2s F
Q	AQo R	KQo C	QQ R	QJs R	QTs C	Q9s F	Q8s F	Q7s F	Q6s F	Q5s F	Q4s F	Q3s F	Q2s F
J	AJo C	KJo F	QJo F	JJ R	JTs C	J9s F	J8s F	J7s F	J6s F	J5s F	J4s F	J3s F	J2s F
T	ATo F	KTo F	QTo F	JTo F	TT R	T9s C	T8s F	T7s F	T6s F	T5s F	T4s F	T3s F	T2s F
9	A9o F	K9o F	Q9o F	J9o F	T9o F	99 C	98s C	97s F	96s F	95s F	94s F	93s F	92s F
8	A8o F	K8o F	Q8o F	J8o F	T8o F	98o F	88 C	87s F	86s F	85s F	84s F	83s F	82s F
7	A7o F	K7o F	Q7o F	J7o F	T7o F	97o F	87o F	77 C	76s F	75s F	74s F	73s F	72s F
6	A6o F	K6o F	Q6o F	J6o F	T6o F	96o F	86o F	76o F	66 C	65s F	64s F	63s F	62s F
5	A5o F	K5o F	Q5o F	J5o F	T5o F	95o F	85o F	75o F	65o F	55 C	54s F	53s F	52s F
4	A4o F	K4o F	Q4o F	J4o F	T4o F	94o F	84o F	74o F	64o F	54o F	44 C	43s F	42s F
3	A3o F	K3o F	Q3o F	J3o F	T3o F	93o F	83o F	73o F	63o F	53o F	43o F	33 C	32s F
2	A2o F	K2o F	Q2o F	J2o F	T2o F	92o F	82o F	72o F	62o F	52o F	42o F	32o F	22 C

R Three bet
C Call
F Fold

Put the two charts next to each other and the point of ranges arrives on its own. Same 169 hands, same stack, same table, and the answer moves from 40.6% of hands to 13.7%. It is not the cards that changed. It is the price and the seat.

reading range notation

Ranges are written down in a shorthand that looks like a licence plate until somebody explains it once. Both charts above were built from strings in exactly this notation.

Written	Means
22+	Every pair from twos upward, so all thirteen of them.
A5s+	Suited aces from A5s up to AKs. The plus always means "and stronger".
KTo-KQo	A closed range: KTo, KJo and KQo, and nothing outside it.
AKs	Ace king of the same suit. Four combinations.
AKo	Ace king of different suits. Twelve combinations.

Big blind versus the button, three betting block:

TT+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+, A5s, A4s

And the calling block:

22-99, A2s+, K2s+, Q5s+, J7s+, T7s+, 96s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s, A2o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o, 98o

where these ranges come from

Percentages counted, ranges estimated.

Every percentage on this page is counted from the grid beside it, out of the 1,326 two card combinations in the deck. That is why a range with more coloured cells can still be the smaller one: six combinations per pair, four per suited hand, twelve per offsuit hand. Comparing ranges by cells rather than combinations is the most common way to get this wrong.

The ranges themselves are conventional. They sit close to widely published defending and three betting ranges, rounded to whole hands so the grid stays readable. They are not solver output, and this page will not imply otherwise. Real solver solutions split a single hand across two actions at a frequency, move when the raise size moves, and change again when the stacks are not 100 big blinds. A static chart cannot say any of that, which is a fair reason to treat it as a starting point rather than an answer key.

The firm parts of both charts are the corners: AA three bets, 72o folds, and nobody anywhere disagrees. The soft parts are the ragged edges, the smallest pairs and the weakest suited hands that could reasonably sit one cell either way. Moving any of them changes the total by a fraction of a percent.

what comes before this

Both charts on this page start with a raise that already happened. Where that raise comes from is the other half of the picture, and it is drawn out seat by seat in the preflop chart for every position at the table. Reading the two together is what makes a range chart useful: you are answering somebody whose own range you can estimate.

If the grid itself is still new, the shorter way in is the starting hands chart with the combination counts, which explains why a pair is worth six combinations and an offsuit hand twelve. The three charts sit together on the poker charts hub.

Ranges also assume the mechanics are already automatic: who acts when, what a re raise costs, and what the blinds are doing in the pot before anyone has decided anything. That is all in the rules of Texas Hold'em, betting round by betting round, and the hand ranking that decides who wins at the end is on the list of all ten poker hands.

Take the big blind chart to a table and see what happens on the flop with the hands at the bottom of it. That is where a range stops being a grid and starts being a decision. No account, no download, no money.

Deal a hand at the practice table

range questions

What is a range in poker?

Every hand a player could be holding in a given spot, taken together. You never know which two cards an opponent has, but you can narrow the set down from their position and their actions, and then play against that whole set instead of guessing at one hand. A range chart is that set drawn on the 13 by 13 grid.

What is a range chart?

A 13 by 13 grid of all 169 starting hands with an action marked on each: raise, call or fold. Unlike an opening chart, a range chart usually covers a spot where somebody has already raised, so all three actions appear on the same grid.

What does a percentage like 40% mean for a range?

It is the share of the 1,326 possible two card combinations that the range contains, not the share of the 169 cells. The two differ a lot, because a pair is six combinations and an offsuit hand is twelve. Counting combinations is the only way to compare two ranges fairly.

Why do you defend so many hands in the big blind?

Because of the price. You already have a big blind in the pot, so calling one more raise costs you less than it costs anyone else at the table, and a hand only needs to be worth that smaller price. The chart below continues with 40.6% of hands for that reason. It is also the seat where you play the rest of the hand out of position, which is the argument for not stretching it further.

What is a three bet range?

The set of hands you re raise with after somebody else has raised. The blind was the first bet, their raise the second, so yours is the third. Three bet ranges are narrow: the second chart on this page re raises with about six percent of hands, and the strongest hands in it are there for value while the smallest suited aces are there to keep the range from being readable.

Are these ranges solver approved?

No, and no chart should claim to be. These are conventional ranges, close to what standard advice and widely published charts have recommended for years, rounded to whole hands. A solver plays many of these hands two ways at a set frequency and shifts its answer with stack depth and raise size, which is more than one coloured square can carry.

Back to all poker charts.

Range charts.