CO Preflop Chart: 6-Max Cutoff Opening Range
Updated 12 September 2026The cutoff (CO) sits directly to the right of the button, with three players behind. This is the first seat where you open primarily to win the pot without a fight: if the button and blinds fold, you pick up 1.5 big blinds with no flop. The cutoff is where most winning players make a large slice of their preflop profit, and where most losing players are still folding hands they should be raising.
Quick version: when everyone folds to you in the cutoff, open 25.8% of hands as a standard raise and a further 3.9% some of the time — about 29.7% in total, which is 394 of the 1,326 possible two-card combinations, across 64 of the 169 hand types. Fold the rest.
The CO opening chart
- Raise
- Mixed (sometimes)
- Fold
- 29.7% of hands · 394 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
Roughly three out of every ten hands. The range has stopped being about hand strength and started being about playability — whether a hand can make something on the flop and be comfortable to play.
Suited kings now run down to K7s. Suited one- and two-gappers come in (T8s, 97s, 86s, 75s) because they make straights and flushes, and the small suited connectors 65s and 54s are full raises. On the offsuit side A9o, KTo, QTo and JTo are now raises — but notice that Q9o and J9o are still folds. Offsuit hands with a gap age badly.
| Hand family | Always raise | Sometimes | Fold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pairs | all of them (22+) | — | — |
| Suited aces | all of them (A2s–AKs) | — | — |
| Suited kings | K7s and up | K6s, K5s | K4s and below |
| Suited queens | Q9s and up | Q8s | Q7s and below |
| Suited jacks | J9s and up | J8s | J7s and below |
| Suited tens and nines | T8s and up, 97s and up | — | T7s, 96s and below |
| Suited low cards | 86s, 75s, 65s, 54s | — | 64s, 53s and below |
| Offsuit aces | A9o and up | A8o | A7o and below |
| Offsuit kings | KTo and up | K9o | K8o and below |
| Offsuit queens and jacks | QTo, QJo, JTo | T9o | Q9o, J9o and below |
3 common CO mistakes
1. Opening far too tight
If your cutoff range looks like your hijack range, you are leaving the easiest money in 6-max on the table. Three players behind means three folds is a common outcome, and every time it happens you win 1.5 big blinds uncontested. A 20% cutoff range instead of a 29% one gives up that free money several times an orbit.
2. Opening wide and then folding to every button 3-bet
The button is the one seat that will punish a wide cutoff open, and it 3-bets you more than anyone. If you open 30% and then fold everything but premiums, the button profits by 3-betting you relentlessly. You need a plan: 4-bet your best hands, call with the pairs and suited broadways, and fold the bottom of your opens.
3. Overvaluing offsuit queens and jacks
QTo and JTo are the very last hands on this chart, and the first to go. They are fine when the blinds fold a lot and poor when they 3-bet. If the players behind you are aggressive, drop them before you drop your suited hands — the suited hands can at least flop a draw and continue.
Facing a raise from the cutoff
From the cutoff, two players can have opened before you: UTG and the hijack. You have position on both, which means calling is genuinely attractive — but the button and the blinds are still behind you, so flat-calling too much invites a squeeze.
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 11.6% of hands · 154 combos
Tight, because UTG opened a tight range. QQ+ and AK for value, suited wheel aces as bluffs, everything else calls.
- 3-bet
- Sometimes 3-bet
- Call
- Fold
- 14.3% of hands · 190 combos
Wider than against UTG: the hijack opens more hands, so AQs joins the value 3-bets and the calling range stretches down to 22.
The pattern to take away: the wider the opener, the wider you continue. Against UTG you continue with about 12% of hands; against the hijack about 14%. The same hand — AQs, say — is a call against UTG and a 3-bet against the hijack, purely because the hijack has more weak hands in its range for you to punish.
And if the button is an aggressive squeezer, shift hands out of the blue (call) group and into either the green group or the fold pile. Calling in front of a player who raises you 15% of the time is the worst of both worlds. More on that in when to 3-bet.
Adjusting the CO chart
- Tight or nitty blinds: widen. Add the gold hands as full raises. Against two blinds who fold 70%+ of the time, almost any suited hand and any ace is an open.
- Aggressive, 3-betting blinds: tighten the offsuit end first — drop QTo, JTo, A8o and K9o before you touch your suited hands.
- Heavy rake: marginal suited hands like K5s and Q8s give up more of their edge than premiums do. Fold the gold and you are close to right.
- Live games with several loose callers: suited hands and pairs go up, offsuit broadways go down. You will see more multiway flops, which is exactly where 97s beats KTo.
The other five positions
- UTG preflop chart — Under the gun, opens 18.3% of hands
- HJ preflop chart — Hijack, opens 21.9% of hands
- BTN preflop chart — Button, opens 48.4% 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.
- How to use preflop charts — read, memorise and drill a range.
Frequently asked questions
How many hands should you open from the cutoff in 6-max?
Roughly 26% of hands as a standard raise, up to about 30% including the borderline hands. A useful way to remember it: every pair, every suited ace, suited kings to K7s, most suited connectors, and the offsuit hands from A9o, KTo, QTo and JTo up.
Why is the cutoff open wider than the hijack?
One fewer player behind you, and that player is the button. From the cutoff there is a real chance everyone folds and you win the blinds; and when someone does call, you are often the one with position. Both effects push the range wider by about eight percentage points.
Should the cutoff open wider when the button is a weak player?
Slightly, but be careful. A weak button who calls too much makes your strong and suited hands more profitable, so keep opening them. A weak button who 3-bets too much should make you tighten the offsuit bottom of your range. Look at what they actually do with their raise, not just whether they are good.
Is 54s really a raise from the cutoff?
Yes, as a standard open. Small suited connectors make straights and flushes, they play well when you have position, and they give your range hands that are not just big cards. They are not meant to win by making top pair — they are meant to make a hand big enough to win a large pot, or to fold cheaply.