Reading 6-Max Preflop Charts, Seat by Seat

A preflop chart can look like a wall of coloured squares. The trick is to read how it changes from seat to seat. Here are the opening ranges from our preflop charts, in order, then why they change, how to adjust them and the mistakes to avoid.

How to read the grid

Every chart is a 13 × 13 grid of the 169 different starting hands:

The diagonal holds the pocket pairs, from AA in the top-left corner to 22 in the bottom-right.
Above the diagonal are the suited hands, like AKs and 76s.
Below the diagonal are the offsuit hands, like AKo and 76o.

Not every square is worth the same. A pair can be dealt 6 ways, a suited hand 4 ways and an offsuit hand 12 ways. That’s why the “combos” column below matters: adding one offsuit hand adds three times as many combinations as adding one suited hand. The range lesson explains combos in more detail.

How much each seat opens

Seat	Share of hands	Combos
Under the gun (UTG)	12.4%	164
Hijack (HJ)	16.7%	222
Cutoff (CO)	24.0%	318
Button (BTN)	35.1%	466
Small blind (SB)	27.6%	366

These are opening ranges when everyone before you has folded. If someone has already raised, you need a different, tighter plan — see 3-betting.

Seat by seat

UTG — tight and strong. Five players are still to act behind you, so one of them will often have a big hand. The range is pairs 55+, strong suited aces and broadways, a few suited connectors and only AJo+ and KQo offsuit.

Hijack — a little wider. Add the smaller pairs down to 44, more suited aces and kings, 98s, and ATo and KJo.

Cutoff — the big jump. With just the button and blinds left, every pair and every suited ace comes in, along with more suited connectors (87s, 76s) and offsuit hands like A9o, KTo, QTo and JTo.

Button — widest of all. You’re guaranteed position for the whole hand, so you can open over a third of hands, including weaker suited kings, most suited connectors down to 54s, and offsuit hands like A5o, K9o and T9o.

Small blind — a special case. Only the big blind is left, but you’ll be out of position after the flop. The range is narrower than the button’s, even though fewer players are behind you.

Why ranges widen: two reasons

1. Fewer players can wake up with a big hand. The chance that any one player is dealt JJ+ or AK is about 3%. With five players behind you (UTG), the chance that at least one of them has it is around 14%. With two behind you (button), it’s about 6%. Fewer players behind means your open is less likely to run into a monster.

2. Position pays you for the whole hand. On the button you act last on the flop, turn and river, so you see what your opponent does before every decision. That makes marginal hands easier to play and more profitable, which is why the button opens nearly three times as many hands as UTG. The position lesson goes deeper.

The charts show opens, but you’ll spend a lot of time facing them in the big blind. Because you’ve already put 1 big blind in, you get a good price to call.

If the button opens to 2.5 big blinds and the small blind folds, you call 1.5 to play for a pot of 5.5. You need only about 27% equity to break even on the call before any post-flop play — which is why the big blind defends far more hands than any seat opens. See pot odds for the maths.

Adjusting the charts

Charts are a starting point built for a typical table. Adjust when the table isn’t typical:

Tight players behind you: open a little wider, especially from the cutoff and button — you’ll win the blinds more often. That’s a steal.
Aggressive players behind you: tighten up, and drop the weakest offsuit hands first, since they play worst when you get 3-bet.
Loose, passive players in the blinds: open a little wider for value, and favour hands that make strong pairs over small suited connectors.
Tournaments with antes: there’s more dead money in the pot, so ranges widen from every seat. Read MTT stealing and, for short stacks, the push/fold charts.
Full-ring (9-handed): early seats have even more players behind them, so UTG and UTG+1 should be tighter than the 6-max UTG range.

Common mistakes

Opening the button range from UTG. The biggest leak we see. Hands like K9o and T9o make money on the button and lose money up front.
Limping instead of raising. When nobody has entered the pot, raise or fold. Limping gives up the chance to win the blinds straight away — see beginner habits that cost chips.
Treating the small blind like the button. You’re closer to the end of the action, but you’ll be out of position. Keep it tighter.
Memorising every cell. Learn the edges — the weakest hands you open in each seat — and the rest follows.

What to take away

Position drives everything. The fewer players behind you — and the more often you’ll act last — the wider you open.
Suited hands come first. At each step, suited versions arrive well before offsuit ones.
Learn the shape, not every cell. Know the UTG and button ranges well; the seats in between fall roughly between them.

Quick questions

Are these GTO charts? They’re simplified ranges close to solver outputs, rounded so a person can remember them. See GTO fundamentals for what “GTO” means in practice.

How big should my open be? Around 2–2.5 big blinds online and a little bigger live or from the small blind. The preflop raising lesson covers sizes.

Do these work for 9-handed games? Use the cutoff, button and blind ranges as they are, and tighten the earlier seats.

Load each preset in the preflop charts and flick between them to see the range grow, then test yourself in the preflop trainer. The theory is in Starting Hands and Position in Poker.

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