📝 Last updated: 4 September, 2024.
Sign up at Freebetrange.com to instantly have these charts in a powerful Editor.
Preflop is an important street in a game of Texas Holdem poker. The decisions you make during this phase will have a significant impact on the rest of the game. To make informed decisions, it is essential to understand when to play tight and when to play loose.
To assist you in making better decisions, we'll review the basic poker charts for the most common game situations in a 9-handed Texas Holdem game.
These charts are mostly applicable to cash games. But even if you're a tournament player, you'll still find all the information useful, as we break down all the important preflop concepts and give you an understanding of how you should build your ranges.
We recommend using the Freebetrange preflop tool to utilize the charts mentioned in this article. You'll have them in your account right after signing in. As an alternative, you can also 📋 download a PDF version of the charts.
You've most likely heard about GTO charts. Those are pre-calculated ranges from the special poker software called “Solvers". These charts are based on mathematical models and game theory principles. GTO charts provide players with a balanced strategy that is impossible for opponents to exploit. By following GTO charts, players can make theoretically perfect decisions.
However, it's important to note that ⚠️GTO poker charts are not always the best choice in real games, as they do not account for specific player tendencies or table dynamics. To extract maximum profit, you need to exploit your opponents's leaks. Exploiting deviates you from the “theory optimal” play. But it's a necessity to get the maximum value from the unoptimal play of your opponents. Especially it's important for micro and low stakes, where there are tons of players who make really stupid mistakes. You just have to deviate from GTO a lot, to make money from it.
Therefore, in the hand charts you need to 🤝 combine GTO and Exploit approaches - that at first seem to be incompatible things. Usually, pro players do like that: they take GTO charts as a base and then add some deviation to them based on different factors. The charts we provide below are also GTO-oriented but adapted for the real game.
Before we get into specific hand ranges for different scenarios, it's important to know the main groups that all starting hands fall into. Each group has its unique characteristics and things to consider. Let's take a closer look at these core groups.
👉 Below we'll be showing ranges for different positions and game spots. We'll cover only basic scenarios here such as open raise, defense against 3bets, and big blind defense. To get more detailed charts for all possible lines, sign up at Freebetrange.com in one click, and you'll have all the ranges in the powerful editor right away.
There are three early positions in a classic 9-max cash game table. Sometimes they're also called “Under The Gun” positions. So there are UTG, UTG+1 and UTG+2.
From these positions, you should be very selective with the hole cards that you're entering the game with. You have the entire table of players acting after you. So the odds that at least one of the players in front of you has a good hand are pretty high.
There are open raise charts from early positions in the picture below. As you can see, we only play strong and medium pocket pairs, suited aces, suited broadway, and some of the best off-suited aces.
In the middle position, ranges naturally widen compared to the early position. But here you still have a lot of players acting after you, so you're limited in a hands that you can profitably enter the game with. You should still fold a lot of hands that at first glance have a good equity.
We're moving further, and now we're on the High-Jack seat. As you might have already guessed, again you can play a bit wider ranges. Now as you can see from the ranges below there are more creative hands you can profitably enter the game with.
So we have reached the Cut-Off position, which is already considered the late position in poker. From late positions, you should play a much wider range of hands to take advantage of your position post-flop. You can add more experimental hands to your range, but be careful - those types of hands often have reverse implied odds, so you should play post-flop wisely avoiding losing big pots with second-best hands.
Button is the best position in poker and you can play a lot of hands with positive EV. You're always last-to-act on post-flop, so you should use that advantage to the maximum. From this position, it's recommended to open raise any playable hand. Logically, on the BTN, you'll also have the widest defensive range against blinds 3bets.
The small blind has the worst position post-flop, as you always act first without any information on the opponents. But given that you've already invested 0.5 bb as a blind bet, you have improved pot odds preflop, and you should often try to defend your investment. The additional factor to play a wide range from SB position is that you have only 1 player left after you. So if nobody entered the game before you, it might be a good idea to try to steal the big blind. In a tournament game, stealing blinds can be a crucial technique that will allow you to build your stack and get to the prizes.
The last position to act on preflop. When you're on a big blind, you made the biggest blind bet pre-flop, and your first goal is to defend your investment. You can do that by 3betting, to try to win the pot right now, or calling and trying to outplay your opponents post-flop. You should mix both tactics with both value and bluff hands so your strategy doesn't become obvious to other players. The range you play from Big Blind position strongly depends on the previous action from the players before you.
The composition of a 9-max poker table can change a lot. It's important to pay attention to the types of players at the table - are they tight, aggressive, passive, or loose? This affects how you should play before the flop. Your goal is to take advantage of your opponents' weaknesses and adjust your strategy accordingly.
If the table is full of passive players, it's a good opportunity to play more hands and try to isolate weaker opponents. On the other hand, if there are aggressive players, it's better to be more cautious and only play strong hands that can handle tough situations after the flop.
In Freebetrange, we have a powerful Trainer that will help you to quickly memorize the ranges for all the common game scenarios. There are two training modes. First is a "game simulator", in which you'l make decisions like on a real poker table.
The second training mode is more advanced and more efficient to learn your strategy. Learn more about it in the full Preflop Trainer overview article.
Use our poker charts and the preflop concepts we described in this article to guide your strategy. However, it's crucial to remember that every situation in poker is unique. You need to pay full attention and understand how to adjust for each specific scenario. Stay focused, analyze the table dynamics, and make informed adjustments based on the information available to you. By combining the charts with your judgment, you can develop a perfect preflop strategy that maximizes your winnings.
Sign up and train 9-max preflop ranges in Freebetrange →
Download 9-max poker charts PDF →
