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Poker Preflop Ranges Trainer

Get dealt a hand in a random seat and answer one question — open-raise or fold? Every answer is graded against sound opening range charts, so you drill preflop hand ranges by position until the right call is instant. The tiers match our starting hands chart, so nothing you learn here contradicts it.

Hand 1 / 12 Score 0
Folded to you — you're in the Button

Do you open-raise or fold?

Why it matters

Preflop hand ranges by position, on autopilot

Most beginners open the same hands from every seat — this trainer turns the seat-by-seat correction into a reflex you no longer have to stop and think about. If you want the theory behind it, work through our preflop strategy and opening ranges guide alongside these reps.

The seat decides before the cards do

The most common beginner leak is a range that ignores where you're sitting — opening the same loose collection of hands from every seat. Under the gun that range is far too wide and bleeds chips out of position; on the button it's far too tight and leaves the blinds uncontested. What this trainer builds is the opposite habit: the seat narrows your range before you ever look down, so 'raise or fold' is already half-answered the instant the action reaches you. If the seat names are still fuzzy, our poker positions explained guide covers why each chair opens wider than the last.

Reflex beats deliberation

Strong players don't agonise over whether to open K-9 suited — they know instantly, because the decision is pre-loaded by position. Drilling ranges until the answer is automatic frees your attention for the parts of a hand that actually require thought: the flop, the turn, the read — where skills like pricing your draws with a pot odds calculator take over. It also makes you consistent and hard to exploit, because you're not leaking information by tanking on the borderline hands and snap-opening the obvious ones.

Cheat sheet

Opening range charts: what opens from where

Each seat unlocks one more tier of hands. The tiers are the exact ones from the Starting Hands chart, so nothing here contradicts it.

Seat (folded to you)Opens these tiersShare of hand types
Under the GunPremium + Strong only~15%
Middle positionPremium + Strong, edging into Playable~19%
Cutoff+ all Playable hands~27%
Button+ Speculative hands — the widest range~45%
Small blindRaise-or-fold; tighter than the button, out of position~35%

Percentages are the share of the 169 starting-hand types each seat opens — a teaching baseline, not exact combo-weighted solver frequencies. The trainer drills Under the Gun, Cutoff and Button; the blinds and middle position follow the same tighter-early, wider-late logic.

At the table

How to build the reflex

Five steps that turn a full grid of hands into an instant, position-aware raise-or-fold call.

  1. 01

    Fix the seat before the cards

    Your position is the first fact of every hand. Register it the moment the action folds to you, so your range is already narrowed before you look down at your cards.

  2. 02

    Classify the hand's tier instantly

    Is it Premium, Strong, Playable, Speculative — or trash? One glance should slot it. The tiers match the Starting Hands chart, so the mental picture is the same everywhere on the site.

  3. 03

    Apply the seat's threshold

    Early seats open only the top tiers; each later seat unlocks one more. If your seat opens the hand's tier, raise. If not, fold. There is no third option when you're first in.

  4. 04

    Drill it until it's reflex

    Run the trainer until you stop calculating and just know. The goal is a decision that costs zero thought at the table, so your focus is saved for post-flop play.

  5. 05

    Only then layer in adjustments

    Once the baseline is automatic, adapt: widen against a weak-tight table, tighten into aggressive opponents. Adjustments are powerful, but only from a solid default.

Worked example

One seat over, the answer flips

Your hand

You're on the button with K♦ 9♦ and it's folded to you — a suited king sitting in the Speculative tier. The button is the one seat that opens everything down to Speculative, so the trainer grades this a raise. Now shift a single seat and picture the same K♦ 9♦ in the cutoff. The cutoff opens down to Playable but stops short of Speculative, so this exact hand drops just below the threshold and the graded answer flips to fold. That razor-thin, one-seat gap — a raise on the button, a fold in the very next chair — is exactly the boundary the trainer burns into reflex.

Verdict — trainer-graded raise on the button; the seat, not the cards, sets the answer
Avoid these

4 opening-range mistakes to avoid

Opening too wide under the gun

Fix With everyone still to act behind you, early position demands a tight range. Loose early opens are the classic losing-player leak.

Playing the button too tight

Fix The button is the one seat where raising just to scoop the blinds is standard play, not a bluff — fold decent speculative hands there and you throw away your best positional edge.

Limping when first to act

Fix Open-raise or fold. Limping lets everyone behind you in cheaply, hands control of the betting to someone else, and gives up any chance of taking the pot right now.

Using one range from every seat

Fix Position has to change your range. A single one-size-fits-all range is simultaneously too loose up front and too tight late — wrong in both directions.

Test yourself

Raise or fold?

Three spots, folded to you. Decide, then check the standard play.

Question 1 / 3 Score 0

It's folded to you under the gun with A♣ 9♣. What's the standard play?

FAQ

Opening ranges — common questions

What is an opening range?

The set of hands you open-raise with when the action folds to you from a given seat. A good range is tight in early position and gets progressively wider the closer you sit to the button.

Why does position change which hands I open?

Acting later means more information and more control of the pot, which makes more hands profitable. From the button you'll usually be in position all hand; under the gun you almost never will be, so you need much stronger cards to get involved.

Are these ranges exact solver output?

No — they're a clean teaching baseline built from the same hand tiers as our Starting Hands chart, so the two tools always agree. Solver ranges follow the same shape (tight early, wide late) but with more granular, mixed frequencies.

Should I ever deviate from the range?

Yes, once the baseline is automatic. Widen against passive, weak-tight tables and tighten against aggressive players who re-raise a lot. But master the default first — deviations only pay off when your foundation is solid.

Keep sharpening

Keep sharpening

Starting Hands Chart

See every hand's tier on the 169-square grid this trainer is built on.

Open →

Position Guide

Understand why each seat opens wider than the last.

Open →

Pot Odds Calculator

Once you're in the pot, price the decisions that follow.

Open →