BTN Preflop Chart: 6-Max Button Opening Range
Updated 12 September 2026The button is the best seat in poker and the widest chart on this site. Only the two blinds are left to act, and after the flop you act last on every street. You see what they do before you decide, every time. That’s worth so much that hands which are hopeless from UTG become clear raises here. Close to half of all hands get opened from this seat.
Quick version: when everyone folds to you in the button, open 42.4% of hands as a standard raise and a further 6% some of the time, so about 48.4% in total, which is 642 of the 1,326 possible two-card combinations, across 98 of the 169 hand types. Fold the rest.
The BTN opening chart
- Raise
- Mixed (sometimes)
- Fold
- 48.4% of hands · 642 combos
Green = raise every time. Gold = raise some of the time. Grey = fold. Assumes nobody has entered the pot before you.
What to raise, mix and fold
Almost half the grid is green or gold. The easiest way to hold it in your head is by what is left out:
- Every pair, every suited ace, every suited king. No exceptions, all the way down to 22, A2s and K2s.
- Every offsuit ace. A2o is an open from the button. It isn’t a good hand. It’s a hand that beats the junk the blinds have to defend with.
- Most suited hands. Queens from Q5s, jacks from J7s, tens from T7s, and all the connectors and one-gappers down to 43s.
- The folds are the offsuit bottom-right. Offsuit kings below K6o, offsuit queens below Q8o, offsuit jacks below J8o, and every offsuit connector below 98o. That whole block, 72o and Q3o and J4o and 86o, is still a fold. It’s still about half the grid.
| Hand family | Always raise | Sometimes | Fold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pairs | all of them (22+) | — | — |
| Suited aces and kings | all of them (A2s+, K2s+) | — | — |
| Suited queens | Q5s and up | Q4s, Q3s, Q2s | — |
| Suited jacks | J7s and up | J6s | J5s and below |
| Suited tens | T7s and up | T6s | T5s and below |
| Suited nines and eights | 96s and up, 86s and up | 95s, 85s | 94s, 84s and below |
| Suited low cards | 75s, 64s, 53s, 43s and up | 74s | 73s and below |
| Offsuit aces | all of them (A2o+) | — | — |
| Offsuit kings | K8o and up | K7o, K6o | K5o and below |
| Offsuit queens | Q9o and up | Q8o | Q7o and below |
| Offsuit jacks | J9o and up | J8o | J7o and below |
| Offsuit connectors | T9o, 98o | — | 87o and below |
3 common BTN mistakes
1. Not opening nearly wide enough
This is the single biggest preflop leak at low stakes. A 25% button range instead of a 45% one folds roughly one extra hand every orbit that should have been a raise, and those are the hands you’d be playing in the best seat, against the two worst-positioned players at the table. If you change one thing after reading this page, change this.
2. Raising every single hand
The opposite error, and a real one once people learn that the button is wide. 72o, J3o and Q4o aren’t opens. When you raise every hand the blinds notice, start 3-betting you constantly, and you end up playing a stream of unplayable hands against raises. The bottom-left block of the grid stays grey.
3. Folding to every blind 3-bet
You open 48% of hands, and the blinds 3-bet you more than they 3-bet anyone. If your answer to every 3-bet is to fold, a wide button range becomes a losing one. You need a continue range, and you need to use it. The last chart below is it.
Facing a raise on the button
Three players can have opened before you: UTG, the hijack and the cutoff. Against all three you have position for the rest of the hand, which makes the button the best seat to both 3-bet and call from. The pattern is the same each time: the wider they opened, the wider you continue.
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 11.6% of hands · 154 combos
UTG has the tightest range at the table, so keep your 3-bets to QQ+ and AK plus a couple of suited wheel aces, and call with the rest.
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 14.3% of hands · 190 combos
A step wider: AQs joins the value 3-bets, and the calling range reaches down to 22 and out to T8s.
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 20.1% of hands · 266 combos
The widest of the three. JJ+, AQs and AK are value 3-bets; A3s, 76s and 65s join the bluffs; and you call with a large block of suited hands and offsuit broadways.
- 4-bet
- Sometimes 4-bet
- Call the 3-bet
- Fold
- 14.5% of hands · 192 combos
Green = 4-bet. Gold = 4-bet some of the time. Blue = call and play the flop in position. About 15% of hands, roughly a third of what you opened.
The last chart is the one most people are missing. You opened 48% of hands, so you can’t defend most of it. You can defend a lot of it, though, because you’ll have position for the whole hand and the pot is already big. Call with pairs down to 55, every decent suited hand, and AQo/AJo. 4-bet KK+ and AKs. Use QQ, AKo, KQs and the suited wheel aces as your mixed group.
When you’re not sure whether a hand is a call, check it rather than guessing. The poker equity calculator will show you how 76s or A9s actually runs against a small-blind 3-betting range. For the reasoning behind which hands belong in a 3-bet rather than a call, read when to 3-bet.
Adjusting the BTN chart
- Blinds who fold too much: open everything on the chart including the gold, and consider adding the weakest offsuit kings. Stealing is free money against players who won’t defend.
- Blinds who 3-bet constantly: cut the offsuit bottom first (K6o, Q8o, J8o) and keep the suited hands, which can continue against a 3-bet.
- Short-stacked blinds (40bb or less): your implied-odds hands, the small suited connectors and suited gappers, lose value because there’s less money to win. Tighten toward high cards.
- Live games: the blinds usually defend wide and passively. Keep opening wide, but expect to see more flops and fewer walks, and value your suited hands over your offsuit ones.
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
- SB preflop chart : Small blind, opens 44.8% of hands
- BB preflop chart : Big blind (defence, not opening)
- All preflop charts: the hub, with how the grid works.
- 3-bet or fold: how rake removes the calling range, starting with the small blind.
- How to use preflop charts: read, memorise and drill a range.
Frequently asked questions
How many hands should you open on the button in 6-max?
About 42% as a standard raise and up to roughly 48% including the borderline hands, so close to half of all hands. Every pair, every suited ace and king, every offsuit ace, and most suited hands. Below roughly 40% you’re giving up money in the best seat at the table.
Is A2o really a button open?
Yes. It’s a weak hand in absolute terms, but you’re raising it against two players who must defend with a lot of genuinely worse hands, and you will act last on every street. Often they simply fold and you win the blinds. That’s the whole argument for the bottom of a button range.
Which hands do you still fold on the button?
The offsuit bottom of the grid: offsuit kings below K6o, offsuit queens below Q8o, offsuit jacks below J8o, and every offsuit connector below 98o. Hands like 72o, 94o, Q3o and J5o. Roughly half the grid is still a fold, even on the button.
How should you react when the blinds 3-bet your button open?
Continue with about a third of what you opened: 4-bet KK+ and AKs, mix in QQ, AKo and a couple of suited wheel aces, and call with pairs down to 55, your suited broadways and connectors, and AQo/AJo. Folding everything turns your best seat into your worst.