Preflop Charts: Free 6-Max Poker Range Charts by Position
Updated 12 September 2026A preflop chart tells you which starting hands to raise, which to fold, and which to play only sometimes — from every seat at a six-player table. These are free, standard baseline ranges for 100 big-blind no-limit Hold’em cash games. Pick a position below to see its chart, or read on to learn how to use one.
Quick version: raise about 15.1% of hands from under the gun, widen a little from each later seat, and open around 42.4% from the button. In the big blind you defend by calling or 3-betting rather than opening. Every chart here uses three colours: green = raise, gold = mixed (sometimes), grey = fold, with blue = call on the defence charts.
What a preflop chart is
Before the flop you know exactly two cards, so the whole decision comes down to how strong your hand is and how many players are still to act. A range is the set of hands you would play the same way in the same spot. A preflop chart is that range drawn as a picture: a 13×13 grid with one square for each of the 169 possible starting-hand classes, coloured by the action.
The charts on this page are for 6-max (six seats), 100 big blinds deep, in a cash game with the standard raise size of about 2.5 big blinds. They are the conventional, widely published ranges — the same shape you will find on any serious training site — not the output of a specific solver run. That matters: a solver would give you exact frequencies, and those frequencies move with the rake, the stack depth and how your opponents play.
How to read the grid
- Pairs run down the diagonal from AA (top-left) to 22 (bottom-right).
- Suited hands sit above the diagonal, marked with an “s” (AKs = ace-king suited).
- Offsuit hands sit below it, marked with an “o” (AKo = ace-king offsuit).
- Each pair is 6 combinations, each suited hand 4, each offsuit hand 12 — so an offsuit hand counts three times as much as a suited one when you work out what percentage of hands you are playing.
Here is the button opening range as an example. Notice how the raises hug the top row and the left column (aces and kings) and then thin out toward the bottom-right corner where the weak offsuit hands live.
- Raise
- Mixed (sometimes)
- Fold
- 48.4% of hands · 642 combos
The six positions explained
Position is where you sit relative to the dealer button, which decides who acts first after the flop. Acting last is a big advantage — you see what everyone else does before you decide — so the later your seat, the more hands you can profitably play.
| Seat | Name | Players behind you | Open-raise (baseline) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UTG | Under the gun | 5 | 15.1% always + 3.2% sometimes |
| HJ | Hijack | 4 | 19.5% always + 2.4% sometimes |
| CO | Cutoff | 3 | 25.8% always + 3.9% sometimes |
| BTN | Button | 2 | 42.4% always + 6% sometimes |
| SB | Small blind | 1 | 37.3% always + 7.5% sometimes |
| BB | Big blind | 0 | Defends ~26.4–50.8% depending on the raiser |
Charts by position
UTG — Under the gun
First to act with five players behind you. The tightest opening range at the table.
Opens 18.3% of hands
UTG preflop chart →HJ — Hijack
Two seats before the button. A little wider than UTG, still a “strong hands” seat.
Opens 21.9% of hands
HJ preflop chart →CO — Cutoff
One seat before the button. Wide enough to start attacking the blinds.
Opens 29.7% of hands
CO preflop chart →BTN — Button
Last to act on every street after the flop. The widest opening range by far.
Opens 48.4% of hands
BTN preflop chart →SB — Small blind
Only the big blind left to beat, but you act first after the flop. Raise or fold, no limping.
Opens 44.8% of hands
SB preflop chart →BB — Big blind
You never open — you defend. Call and 3-bet ranges against UTG, CO and button raises.
Defends 50.8% vs button
BB preflop chart →How to use these charts
- Start with the seat you are in. Find your position, then find your hand on the grid. Green means raise, grey means fold.
- Treat gold as a coin-flip you get to choose. Mixed hands are close decisions. Raise them against tight or passive players behind you; fold them when the players behind you 3-bet a lot.
- Raise-first-in only. The opening charts assume everyone before you has folded. If someone has already raised, use the “vs a raise” section on each position page instead.
- Keep one raise size. The charts assume roughly 2.5 big blinds (3 from the small blind). If you raise bigger, you should open slightly fewer hands.
- Adjust for rake and table. Heavy rake at low stakes makes the marginal hands worse — fold more of the gold. Live games with weak callers make suited hands better and offsuit junk worse.
For a fuller walkthrough — including how to memorise a range by shape instead of by list — read how to use preflop charts.
Why solvers open wider on the button
Every chart you will ever see opens far more hands from the button than from under the gun, and the reason is not just “fewer players behind you”. Three things stack up:
- Fewer players left to act. From UTG, five players could wake up with a strong hand. From the button only the two blinds can, and they are the two seats that will play the flop out of position.
- You act last on every later street. After the flop the button always sees the blinds’ action first. That information is worth so much that hands like K7s or 96s, hopeless from UTG, become profitable raises.
- The blinds are forced to defend badly. The big blind has money in already and must defend a wide, weak range; the small blind is out of position against everyone. Attacking that with a wide range is where a lot of a good player’s profit comes from.
The same logic in reverse explains UTG: with five players behind, the hand that is a clear raise on the button is often a clear fold, because someone will have a better hand more often and you will play most flops out of position.
Related
- Poker odds chart — outs, pot odds and the chance of hitting by the river.
- How to use preflop charts — read, memorise and drill a range.
Frequently asked questions
What is a preflop chart?
A preflop chart is a grid of all 169 starting hands in Texas Hold’em, coloured by what you should do with each one before the flop from a given seat: raise, fold, or sometimes raise. There is one chart per position because the right range changes depending on how many players are still to act behind you.
Are these charts GTO (solver) ranges?
No. They are standard baseline ranges for 6-max, 100 big-blind cash games — the conventional ranges that solvers broadly agree with, simplified into raise / mixed / fold. A solver’s exact frequencies depend on rake, stack depth, raise size and the opponents, so treat these as a starting point, not the final word.
Do these charts work for tournaments?
Only loosely. Tournament stacks are usually shorter than 100 big blinds and antes change the maths, so tournament ranges are generally wider and include shoves. Use these charts for cash games and deep-stacked tournament play in the early levels.
What does “mixed” mean on a poker range chart?
A mixed (gold) hand is one you should play some of the time and fold the rest. In a solver it might be raised 40% of the time; in practice most players pick a simple rule, such as raising mixed hands when the players behind them are tight and folding them when they are aggressive.
How many hands should I open from each position in 6-max?
A conventional 100bb baseline is roughly 15–18% from UTG, 20–22% from the hijack, 26–30% from the cutoff, 42–50% from the button and 35–45% raise-first-in from the small blind. The big blind defends around 25–50% of hands depending on who raised.
Should I memorise a preflop chart?
Yes, but by shape rather than by list. Learn where the edges of each range fall — the weakest suited king, the weakest offsuit ace, the smallest suited connector — and the rest follows. Then drill the borderline hands until the decision is automatic.