Poker Ranges

A poker range chart is a visual representation of these ranges. In Texas Hold’em, there are 169 hand combinations, and they can be displayed on a 13×13 grid. Suited hands appear in the top right, offsuit hands in the bottom left, and pocket pairs run diagonally from the top left to the bottom right. When analyzing poker ranges, you can highlight each hand you think your opponent might have to better visualize their potential range.

While the chart may make it seem like all hands are equally likely, this isn’t true. There are actually six combinations of paired hands and 16 combinations of unpaired hands, with the unpaired hands consisting of four suited hands and 12 unsuited hands. Let’s take AA and AK as examples:

• Paired Hands: There are six possible combinations of paired hands: A♥A♣ / A♥A♦/ A♥A♠ / A♣A♦ / A♣A♠ / A♣A♠

• Suited Hands: There are four combinations of suited hands, one for each suit: A♥K♥ / A♣K♣ / A♦K♦ / A♠K♠

• Unsuited Hands: There are twelve combinations of unsuited hands:A♥K♣ / A♥K♦ / A♥K♠ / A♣K♦ / A♣K♠ / A♦K♠ / A♣K♥ / A♦K♥ / A♠K♥ / A♦K♣ / A♠K♣ / A♠K♦

HOW TO USE POKER RANGES

Now that we understand what a poker range is, how do we use it in-game? We use poker ranges to hand-read. Hand reading is the ability to figure out what hands our opponent likely holds based on their betting actions. We do this by estimating the ranges our opponents start with and then adjusting those ranges based on their betting patterns.

A♦9♣6♠4♠2♦ board, they might represent strong hands like AA, AK, AQ, and AJ for value, while bluffing with hands like KQ, QJ, and 87s.

One key thing to remember is to keep your opponent’s range consistent throughout the hand. A common mistake is to suddenly assume a player can have a specific hand on the turn when that hand wasn’t in their range on earlier streets. Let’s look at an example:

Example: Consistent Ranging

Your opponent raises UTG at a nine-handed table, and you call with 3♦4♦ in the big blind. You believe your opponent is a solid player, so you assign them a range of 77+, AQo+, AJs+, and JTs+. The flop comes 3♠4♠5♦. You check, your opponent bets, you raise, and your opponent shoves.

You might be concerned that your opponent has a straight with either 76 or A2, a better two-pair with 53 or 54, or a set with 33, 44, or 55. However, you shouldn’t be too worried. Why? Because these hands weren’t part of the preflop range you assigned to your opponent, and so, they shouldn’t be in their post-flop range either.

When using poker ranges, start with your opponent’s preflop range, and as the hand progresses, use their actions to eliminate certain hands. This gives you a clearer picture of their range as the hand develops.

HOW TO CALCULATE POKER RANGES

The hardest part about using poker ranges is accurately estimating the ranges your opponents are playing. While we’ll never fully understand how our opponents think, we can use the information available to make close estimates of the hands they’ll play. Here are some factors to consider when building a range for your opponent:

Now that you understand how to calculate poker ranges, let’s examine a real-world example. I’ll share a hand I recently played against a player, which illustrates how evaluating my opponent’s range allowed me to make an optimal decision.

In a $1/$2 live cash game, our opponent raised to $8 from UTG. Since this player had just sat down, I didn’t have much information on them. Therefore, I assigned them a standard UTG opening range of 22+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, AJo+, and KQo. I was in the big blind with 6♦5♦ and decided to call.

The flop came K♣9♦5♠, giving me bottom pair. Considering my opponent’s range, this flop favors them, as they hold all the strong Kx hands, sets, and AA, while I have fewer strong Kx hands. However, they also have many hands that missed, like broadway cards and Ax hands.

My opponent made a small c-bet of $6 into a $17 pot, which likely indicated they were betting their entire range. With bottom pair and a backdoor flush draw, I had an easy call.

Turn and River Actions

The turn brought the 6♠, giving me two pair. I checked, and my opponent made a large bet of $25 into $30. This larger bet sizing suggested that my opponent was now only betting with the stronger part of their range. For value, they could have hands like AK, KQ, AA, and sets like 55, 66, 99, or even 87s for a straight. However, they might also continue bluffing with hands like QJs, JTs, and possibly some Ax of spades for the backdoor flush draw.

Given this action, I felt my two-pair was strong enough to continue.

The river was the A♥, and my opponent made a pot-sized bet of $80. At this point, I needed to carefully consider my opponent’s likely hands. With the ace hitting, it was less likely they were betting just a single king, so I could eliminate KJ and KQ. However, hands like AK, AA, and sets were still very much in their range, as were potential bluffs like QJs and JTs.
Given the ratio of value hands to bluffs, I determined that my two-pair didn’t win often enough against this large bet, so I made the fold. My opponent showed AA for a rivered set.

Using my understanding of ranges, I was able to make good calls on the flop and turn, and correctly fold when my hand was no longer strong enough on the river

Key Takeaways

Being able to put your opponent on an accurate range of hands is one of the most important skills in poker. Thinking in terms of ranges helps you make the best possible decisions against the various hands your opponent could have in any situation.

However, it’s difficult to think through every possible hand combination in real-time. That’s why it’s crucial to practice and refine this skill so that it becomes second nature during games.

PREFLOP Poker RANGE

A preflop range chart is a visual tool that helps players understand the range of hands someone might play from a specific position before the flop. This visualization makes it easier to remember which hands to raise with from each position, rather than relying on memory alone.

Let’s look at a common nine-handed UTG (Under the Gun) raising range:

As you can see, not many hands are played in this situation; most of the focus is on the top-left corner of the chart, which includes the strongest hands. Remember, the best hands are in the top left, and the weakest hands are in the bottom right. Now let’s compare it with a wider range, such as a BTN (Button) opening range:

As you can see, the BTN range is much wider. That’s a lot of hands to keep track of while in-game! If you’re having trouble remembering all of them, try grouping hands that play similarly—such as all Qx, Kx, or Jx hands—to make it easier.

Some players use preflop range charts like these for every position to help them remember their preflop raising ranges. However, it’s important to remember that you should only use these charts for their intended position. For example, the UTG chart should only be used when you’re under the gun; using it in any other position would make your range too tight. Similarly, the BTN raising range should only be used when you’re on the button, as playing it from an earlier position would be too loose.

Also, these charts apply only to preflop ranges. Once you move to the postflop stage, factors like board texture influence ranges, so don’t rely on these charts once the flop is out. To help you with preflop ranges, we’ve included some commonly used raising and calling ranges that you can use in your game.

PREFLOP: COMMON RAISE RANGES

• UTG Raise First In (9% range): 66+, AJs, KQs, AJo+, KQo
• Early Position Raise First In (15% range): 22+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, AJo+, KJo+, QJo
• Middle Position Raise First In (20% range): 22+, ATs+, KTs+, QTs+, J9s+, T8s+, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo
• HJ Raise First In (25% range): 22+, A7s+, K9s+ ,Q9s+ ,J9s+, T8s+,97s+, 86s+, 75s+, 64s+ , 54s, A9o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo, T9o
• CO Raise First In (35% range): 22+,A2s+,K8s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T7s+,97s+,86s+,75s+,64s+,54s,43s,A8o+,A5o-A2o,K9o+,Q9o+,J9o+,T9o
• BTN Raise First In (50% range): 22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q7s+, J7s+, T7s+, 96s+, 86s+, 75s+, 64s+, 53s+, 43s, A2o+, K5o+, Q8o+, J8o+, T8o+, 98o, 87o, 76o, 65o

PREFLOP: COMMON CALL RANGES

• BTN Call vs EP Raise (8% range): JJ-22,AQs-AJs,KQs,AQo-AJo,KQo
• BB Call vs EP Raise (13% range): JJ-22,AQs-ATs,KJs+,QJs,JTs,T9s,98s,87s,76s,65s,54s,AQo-ATo,KJo+
• BTN Call vs MP Raise (16% range): TT-22,AJs-A9s,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,76s,65s,54s,AJo-ATo,KTo+,QTo+,JTo
• BB Call vs MP Raise (22% range): TT-22,AJs-A2s,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,86s+,75s+,64s+,53s+,43s,AJo-A9o,KTo+,QTo+,JTo
• BB Call vs LP Raise (30% range): 88-22,ATs-A2s,KJs-K8s,Q8s+,J8s+,T7s+,96s+,85s+,74s+,63s+,53s+,43s,ATo-A7o,KJo-K9o,Q9o+,J9o+,T9o,98o,87o,76o,65o

POSTFLOP POKER RANGE

Once you’ve assigned a preflop range to your opponent, that range becomes the baseline for all of your postflop hand reading. From this point, you should only remove hands from your opponent’s range based on their actions, not add any. Each action your opponent takes should narrow down their range.

A Common Mistake

A common mistake new players make is adding hands after they’ve already decided on a preflop range.

For example, if your opponent is a tight player and raises UTG, you can safely assume they don’t have a hand like A2o. So if the flop comes Q♦2♥2♠, it’s nearly impossible for your opponent to have trips. Some players will suddenly assume that 2x is in their opponent’s range simply because they bet aggressively on the flop, but that’s not the case.

Hand reading is about following a logical progression from preflop to the river. You estimate your opponent’s range preflop, and as the hand unfolds, you remove hands based on their actions until you arrive at the river with a more precise idea of their range.

BETTING TYPE: FREQUENCY AND PATTERNS

One of the most valuable pieces of information you receive from your opponent is their actions during the hand. While live tells can occasionally be useful, a player’s betting or checking is the most critical information for hand reading.

Similar to preflop hands being played differently, not all hands are played the same postflop. Whenever your opponent takes an action like checking, they’re splitting their range, and you can remove the hands that they would normally bet with. So how do you know which hands belong in each range? This is why studying your opponent’s patterns is essential to deduce how they play certain types of hands.

Let’s explore the most common types of players you’ll encounter at the poker table and how to exploit their tendencies.

THE ABC PLAYER

These players look to play a very simple strategy that isn’t very complicated; when they have a good hand, they’ll bet, and when they don’t, they won’t. While this strategy is all you need to beat a game full of fish, it’s very easily exploited, and a thinking player can pick it apart within a few minutes of watching them.

These kinds of players will only bet with a good amount of equity and, as such, will be less aggressive on average. If you see someone playing passively whenever they have a marginal/weak hand, you’ve found yourself an ABC Player.

Against These Players: you can afford to open up your range and punish their transparent nature. By increasing your raising range by 10% in every position, you can play aggressively both preflop and postflop, knowing that if you face any resistance you can easily let your hand go. This increase in your preflop raising range will take advantage of their passive play and win more pots without showdown.

THE BLUFFER

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the bluffers. These kinds of players are extremely aggressive preflop and postflop and will often take any opportunity to bluff at a pot. While this aggression will lead to many pots won without showdown, it’s hard to be this aggressive without over-bluffing and leaving yourself open to being exploited.

It can sometimes be hard to spot a bluffer, especially when they get a run of good cards. Still, these players are almost always betting when the opportunity arises, so look for players who are being more aggressive than average.

Against These Players: you need to tighten your range and only play strong hands with good showdown value. Your early position ranges should already meet these criteria, but your late position ranges can be hard to defend against aggressive bluffers. We’d recommend tightening your late position ranges by 10-15%’ doing so eliminates your worse hands and strengthens your range to the point where you can take advantage of their willingness to bluff.

THE THINKING PLAYER

These players are the hardest to play against, as they do a lot of things right. They play a reasonable preflop range, value bet at the right frequencies, and are able to balance their range with a good amount of bluffs. Thinking players can be hard to spot at the table, as they often go unnoticed.

Players who make big mistakes one way or the other stick out in people’s minds, but people who generally do things right blend into the background. So, if you see someone quietly going about their business, not attracting much attention, you’ve likely found a thinking player.

Against These Players: you need to find the specific weaknesses in their game. If they’re on the passive side, try opening up your range by around 5-10% to punish them, but if they’re on the aggressive side, tighten up your range by 5-10% to protect against being bluffed.

POST HAND ANALYSIS: LEARNING FROM PAST HANDS

Figuring out your opponent’s starting ranges is one of the hardest tasks in poker because you can’t know for sure what they’re thinking. The best way to improve your ability to range opponents is by paying attention to the hands they show at showdown. These moments provide valuable insights into how your opponent constructs their ranges.

SHOWDOWN HAND

If a hand reaches showdown and you see your opponent’s cards, this is incredibly valuable information that you can use to figure out their strategy. Here are the things you should be considering when you see your opponent’s hand at showdown.

• Preflop Range – Given the preflop position of your opponent, is this a hand you’d expect to see in their range? If your opponent plays looser than expected, that tendency may exist in other areas of their game.

• Preflop Action – Was their preflop action congruent with the hand they showed up with? If your opponent tables AA, did they 3bet, or did they flat to try and be tricky? Knowing whether your opponent plays in a standard way or likes to “mix things up” is useful when considering their range postflop.

• Postflop Action – Did they play their hand in a logical way postflop? Think about the action on every postflop street, and ask yourself if it makes sense for their hand. For example, if you raised preflop and made a cbet on the flop, did they have a reasonable hand to call with, or did they just float with garbage? If you spot your opponent floating too wide or always playing draws aggressively, this gives you a great insight into what their range is likely to be.

PRO TIP: LOOK FOR PATTERNS

The most important thing to remember when analyzing hands to help with range construction is that you should be looking for patterns rather than outliers. We all make silly mistakes every now and again that aren’t indicative of how we play, and the same goes for our opponents.

Identifying the repetitive patterns in your opponent’s play is much more profitable than focusing on one crazy hand. For example, if you see your opponent always raising on the flop with a draw and never calling, you’ll know that their raising range on the flop is a lot weaker than it should be, and you can punish that. However, seeing your opponent go crazy with J2o in one hand isn’t going to tell you much about how they play and therefore isn’t very useful.

COMPARING EQUITY: YOUR HAND VS. YOUR OPPONENTS

Calculating the equity of your hand versus your opponent’s range while at the table is never going to be an exact science unless you’re a math prodigy. However, for those of us less mathematically inclined, there are some shortcuts you can take. Here’s a quick guide on how to estimate your hand’s equity against your opponent’s range:

As you can see, it’s a pretty complicated process and takes a lot of practice before you’re able to use it at the tables! However, if you can become good at it, it will give you a huge advantage over your opponents.

USING POKER RANGES TO EXPLOIT AND COUNTER OPPONENTS

Now that you have a solid understanding of how to construct poker ranges and calculate your equity, you can use this information to exploit your opponents and counter their tendencies in real time. This allows you to make better decisions using concepts such as minimum defense frequency and big blind defense. Let’s look at how these strategies work in practice.

MINIMUM DEFENSE FREQUENCY

Minimum defense frequency (MDF) refers to the percentage of your range that you must continue with when facing a bet in order to avoid being exploited by bluffs. If you fold too often, your opponent will automatically profit with their bluffs.

Working out the minimum defense frequency in any situation is easy; here’s the equation.

(Pot size  / (pot size + bet size)) x 100 = MDF

After inputting the appropriate numbers, the result will be the percentage of hands that you must continue with to remain unexploitable.

For example, imagine you’re on the river, facing a bet of $100 into a $200 pot. Here’s how you calculate your MDF:

• (200 / (200 + 100)) x 100 = MDF
• (200 / 300) x 100 = 66.7% MDF

In this case, you should continue with at least 66.7% of your range to avoid being exploited by bluffs.

However, in practice, minimum defense frequencies are rarely used, as your opponents aren’t balanced enough to make it necessary. It’s a great exercise to do off the table, as it gets you familiar with balancing ranges and identifying where your hand falls within your range. If you were playing against a perfectly balanced bot, you’d need to hit your MDF if you had any chance of doing well, but against unbalanced players, you can afford to overcall or overfold based on their tendencies.

While the minimum defense frequency can be applied to any situation, this concept is a lot more specific and covers the number of hands you should defend against a raise from your opponent. Another difference between big blind defense and minimum defense frequency is that it’s often used in-game rather than as a mental exercise.

This is because your big blind defense is based on the range of hands your opponent plays preflop and isn’t conditional on your opponent being balanced. There is a list of considerations that you should run through before defending a hand in the big blind, so let’s look at what those are.

• Opponent’s Range – The first thing to consider when working out your big blind defense frequency is the range of hands your opponent has raised. To figure this out, you need to consider their position, raise size, stack size, and playing style.

• Hand vs. Range Equity – Once you’ve worked out your opponent’s range, you need to work out roughly how much equity your hand has against that range.

• Pot Odds – The next thing to look at is the pot odds being offered by your opponent. Based on the amount of equity your hand has against your opponent’s range, do you have a profitable call? If yes, you can defend; if no, then you should fold.

Sounds easy, right? Well, there’s a little bit more to it than that.

While your hand’s raw equity against your opponent’s range is important, there are other factors that will affect whether your defense is profitable:

• Position – Playing in the big blind means that you’re likely going to be out of position in the pot. Being out of position makes it harder to realize your equity, so even if you have 30% equity against your opponent’s range, it’s unlikely that you’ll get to realize all of it.

• “Flopability” – How often your hand will likely connect with the flop also affects the amount of equity you’ll be able to realize. Hands like suited connectors flop flush draws, straight draws, and pairs, making it easier to continue against a bet. However, unsuited, disconnected hands are going to flop nothing most of the time, making it much harder to defend against a flop bet.

• Rake – If you’re playing in a cash game, the rake is going to have an impact on the profitability of your hand. If your defend is only slightly over breakeven, then by the time the rake is taken, it will become unprofitable.

A good rule of thumb is to add 5% equity to account for these factors. For example, if you need 35% equity to defend, you should continue with hands that have at least 40% equity.

One of the best ways to use ranges to increase your win rate is to adjust your play based on the tendencies of your opponent. If you’ve played with an opponent long enough, you’ll start to pick up clues about how they play, which you can use to your advantage.

For example, if you’ve noticed that your opponent is extremely tight preflop, you can counter that by overfolding against them preflop. Similarly, if you’re against an opponent who’s bluffing far more frequently than they should, you can exploit them by calling down more often.

Any time your opponent deviates from balanced play, you can adjust your play to exploit them. There are lots of ways your opponent could be unbalanced; take a look at these examples and watch out for them the next time you play.

• Is your opponent too tight or too loose preflop?
• Do they always have it when they bet the river?
• Do they c-bet too often/too little?
• Do the 3bet too often/too little?
• Do they call too often from the big blind?
• How do they react to overbets? Do they call too often or too little?
• Do they play straightforwardly when out of position?
• Do they check raise enough?

At lower-stakes games, you’ll encounter many unbalanced players who make these types of mistakes. It’s up to you to recognize these tendencies and adjust your strategy to maximize your advantage.

While you can never know for sure how your opponent constructs their ranges, one way to gain insight is by using a HUD (Heads-Up Display). A HUD tracks the stats for every opponent at the table and displays them in real-time as you play.

The two most commonly used stats in HUDs are VPIP (Voluntarily Put in Pot) and PFR (Preflop Raise). These stats give you a general idea of how loose or tight your opponent plays. A high VPIP indicates that a player is loose, while a high PFR shows they are aggressive.

VPIP and PFR: What Do They Tell You?

If a player’s VPIP and PFR are close together, it means they are selective and aggressive—this suggests a tighter range. However, if their VPIP is much higher than their PFR, it means they call a lot but rarely raise, indicating a looser and more passive player.

For example, a player with a VPIP of 25 and a PFR of 22 is likely playing a tight-aggressive style (TAG), while a player with a VPIP of 35 and a PFR of 15 may be a loose-passive player (calling stations).

RFI (Raise First In) Stats

You can break down RFI stats for each position at the table, giving you an exact percentage of hands your opponent raises with when they’re the first to act. This helps you gauge their preflop range more accurately. However, even if two players have the same RFI percentage from a position, they may favor different types of hands—some may lean toward suited hands, while others prefer Ax or pocket pairs.

By focusing on the adjustments outlined above, you can improve your decision-making and more effectively exploit your opponents, whether you’re playing live or online with a HUD.