BB Preflop Chart: 6-Max Big Blind Defence Range
Updated 12 September 2026The big blind is the one seat with no opening chart. You act last before the flop, so by the time the action reaches you either everyone has folded (you win, no decision) or somebody has raised. Your chart is therefore a defence chart: which hands to call with, which to 3-bet, and which to let go. And because you already have one big blind in the pot, you defend far wider than you would from any other seat.
Quick version: the big blind never opens — it defends. Against a button raise you play about 50.8% of hands (674 of the 1,326 possible two-card combinations): roughly 39.5% as calls and 11.3% as 3-bets. Against a UTG raise it is closer to 26.4%.
The BB defence chart
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 50.8% of hands · 674 combos
Blue = call. Green = 3-bet. Gold = 3-bet some of the time. Grey = fold. Assumes a 2.5bb open and that you close the action.
What to call, what to 3-bet, what to fold
The grid above is the button spot — the one that comes up most and costs the most when you get it wrong. Three things are going on:
- Blue is the bulk of it. You call with pairs 99 and below, nearly every suited hand, and a wide slab of offsuit broadways. You are getting a discount — you already paid one big blind — so you can take hands to the flop you could never open.
- Green and gold are narrow but essential. QQ+, AK and AQs are 3-bets for value; JJ, TT, the suited wheel aces and the good suited connectors mix in as bluffs. Without a 3-betting range the button gets to raise you for free all night.
- The folds are offsuit and low. Offsuit kings below K7o, offsuit queens below Q8o, weak offsuit jacks, and every low offsuit hand. Those are the hands that flop nothing and cannot be saved by a discount.
How wide you defend depends entirely on who raised, because you are defending against the range they opened, not against a hand:
| Spot | Call | 3-bet | Total defended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against a UTG open | 21.6% | 4.9% | 26.4% |
| Against a cutoff open | 28.1% | 8.6% | 36.7% |
| Against a button open | 39.5% | 11.3% | 50.8% |
3 common BB mistakes
1. Folding far too much to button and cutoff opens
If you fold 70% of your big blinds to a button raise, the button can raise every hand and profit without ever seeing a flop. Against a button open you should be playing around half your hands. It feels loose because you are calling with hands like J7s and K8o — it is correct because you are paying 1.5 big blinds more to win a pot that already has 3.5 in it.
2. Defending with offsuit junk because it has an ace or a king in it
A7o against a UTG raise is not a defence, it is a donation: the hands that raise from UTG and call your bets are exactly the ones that dominate it. Against early opens, suited hands and pairs defend; weak offsuit hands fold. The discount helps hands that can make something — it does not rescue a dominated hand.
3. Never 3-betting, or only 3-betting aces and kings
A big blind that only ever calls is easy to play against: the raiser knows you have no strong hands and can bet the flop relentlessly. You need a 3-betting range — some premiums, some suited wheel aces, some suited connectors — so the raiser has to worry every time you raise.
Defending against each seat
The same principle drives all three charts: defend wider against a wider opener. UTG raises about 18% of hands, so you are usually against something real and you defend about a quarter of your hands. The button raises close to half the deck, so you defend about half of yours.
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 26.4% of hands · 350 combos
Tight: calls are pairs, suited broadways, suited aces and the better offsuit broadways. 3-bets are QQ+ and AK, with JJ, AQs, the suited wheel aces and 65s/54s mixed in.
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 36.7% of hands · 486 combos
Wider on both counts: suited kings down to K5s and suited queens to Q7s call, offsuit aces to A7o come in, and more suited broadways mix into the 3-bet.
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 50.8% of hands · 674 combos
About half of all hands. Every suited king and queen, suited jacks to J4s, offsuit aces down to A2o, and offsuit broadways to K7o and Q8o.
Two practical notes. First, these ranges assume you close the action — everyone else has folded and it is you against the raiser. If another player has already called between the raiser and you, your calling range gets wider for speculative hands (you are getting a better price with more money to win) and your 3-bets get stronger.
Second, the reason a wide defence works at all is the price. With a 2.5bb open, 1 blind already yours and 0.5 from the small blind, you are paying 1.5 to win 4.5 — you need to win about a quarter of the time to break even, and a discounted hand with any playability clears that bar more often than people expect. If you want to see how a specific hand fares, run it through the poker equity calculator; for the 3-betting side, read when to 3-bet.
Adjusting the BB chart
- Raiser who never continuation-bets, or gives up on the flop constantly: defend wider still. Your weak hands realise much more of their value against a passive player.
- Raiser who bets big and often on every street: tighten toward hands that can continue — pairs, suited hands, real draws — and fold the weak offsuit end.
- Heavy rake at micro stakes: this is where over-defending goes wrong. Rake comes out of every pot you win, so the thinnest defences (K7o, J4s) stop being profitable. Fold the bottom.
- Live games: the open sizes are usually larger (4x or 5x rather than 2.5x), which makes defending much more expensive. Against a 5bb open you defend roughly half as many hands as these charts show.
The other five positions
- UTG preflop chart — Under the gun, opens 18.3% of hands
- HJ preflop chart — Hijack, opens 21.9% of hands
- CO preflop chart — Cutoff, opens 29.7% of hands
- BTN preflop chart — Button, opens 48.4% of hands
- SB preflop chart — Small blind, opens 44.8% of hands
- All preflop charts — the hub, with how the grid works.
- How to use preflop charts — read, memorise and drill a range.
Frequently asked questions
How wide should you defend your big blind in 6-max?
Around 26% of hands against a UTG open, roughly 37% against a cutoff open, and about 50% against a button open. You defend wider against later positions because their ranges are weaker, and wider than you would from any other seat because you already have a big blind in the pot.
Why do you defend so many hands from the big blind?
Because of the price. With a 2.5bb raise, your big blind and the small blind already in the pot, you are paying 1.5 big blinds to win about 4.5 — so you only need to win roughly a quarter of the time. You also close the action, so nobody can raise you again before the flop.
Should you 3-bet from the big blind or just call?
Both. Call with the wide, playable part of your range — pairs, suited hands, decent offsuit broadways — and 3-bet a narrow, deliberate group: the premiums for value, plus blockers like A5s and A4s and good suited connectors as bluffs. A big blind that only calls is easy to bet into relentlessly.
Does a bigger open size change how much you defend?
Yes, a lot. These charts assume an open of about 2.5 big blinds. Against a 4x or 5x open — common in live games — the price is far worse, and you should defend roughly half as many hands, keeping the pairs and suited hands and folding the offsuit end.