PokerChart VIP
Start learning
Interactive · Starting hands

Your Texas Hold'em starting hands cheat sheet

All 169 Texas Hold'em starting hands on one interactive chart. Suited hands sit above the diagonal, offsuit below, pairs down the middle. Hover or tap any hand to see how to play it — this is the map every winning player has in their head.

This is a solid 6-max opening framework — not a fixed rulebook. Tighten it in early position and at fuller 9–10-handed tables; open it up on the button and in the blinds when the action folds to you.

  • Premium
  • Strong
  • Playable
  • Speculative
  • Fold
Why it matters

Why the best Texas Hold'em starting hands win before the flop

This starting hands cheat sheet ranks all 169 starting hands so you know the top Texas Hold'em starting hands to open — and the right opening ranges by position to raise them from. Pick your battles before the flop and most of your session's result is already settled — the hands you enter with set the ceiling on what you can win and the floor under what you can lose.

Most of your result is decided before the flop

The hands you choose to enter a pot with put a ceiling on how much you can win and a floor under how much you can lose. Play too many weak, dominated hands and you spend the whole session making tough decisions from behind — that single leak costs beginners more than any misplayed river. A tight opening range built around your table position keeps you out of those spots before a flop is ever dealt — you're simply choosing better fights than the players stacking off around you.

Suited and connected beats big-and-clumsy

A♠ J♠ is meaningfully better than A♦ J♣ — being suited adds flush potential and makes the hand easier to play. Connected cards like 7♠ 6♠ make straights and flushes that win big pots and fold easily when they miss. The traps are the offsuit 'pretty' hands: K-J, Q-J and A-rag offsuit look playable but are constantly dominated — out-kicked by the exact hands that want to play back at you. When you're unsure which holding actually wins, keep our poker hand rankings chart open to see exactly what beats what.

Cheat sheet

Starting hands by position: 6-max opening ranges

A practical 6-max cash baseline: roughly how wide to open from each position when the pot is unopened in front of you.

Position (6-max)Open ~%Roughly what to open
UTG — first to act~15%99+, A-Q+, A-J suited, K-Q, suited broadways
MP / Lojack~19%Add 77+, A-T, K-J, suited connectors to 76s
Cut-off~27%Add most suited aces, all broadways, small pairs, 54s+
Button~45%Any pair, any suited ace, most broadways & connectors
Small blind~35%Raise-or-fold — you're out of position all hand, so tighten
Big blinddefend wideYou close the action at a discount — defend far wider vs one raise

Percentages are opening (raise-first-in) baselines for 6-max cash games. Adjust for stakes, table size and opponents — full-ring tables and tough games play tighter; loose-passive tables let you open wider.

At the table

How to use the starting hands chart in a hand

Five steps that turn 169 squares into a fast, confident preflop decision.

  1. 01

    Check your position first

    Before you even look at the tier, note where you're sitting. Position is half the decision — the same hand is a clear raise on the button and an easy fold under the gun.

  2. 02

    Find the hand on the grid

    Pairs run down the diagonal, suited hands sit above it, offsuit below. A♠ K♠ is 'AKs' (above); A♠ K♦ is 'AKo' (below). Tap it to see the tier.

  3. 03

    Match the tier to your seat

    The earlier you act, the higher the tier you need. Premium and strong hands open from anywhere; playable and speculative hands want late position.

  4. 04

    First in? Raise or fold

    If everyone folded to you, raise the hands in your range and muck the rest. Limping in — just calling the big blind — surrenders the initiative and is almost always a mistake.

  5. 05

    Facing a raise? Tighten up

    Someone already opened, so continue only with hands that dominate theirs or flop well in position. Marginal opens quietly become folds once there's action in front of you.

Worked example

Two suited aces, two different hands

Your hand

You're dealt A♠ 5♠ — a suited ace, and a genuinely useful hand: it can make the nut flush, and holding the ace blocks the very hands that most want to stack you. But don't file it next to A♠ J♠. Both are suited aces, yet they win in opposite ways. A♠ J♠ has a top-tier kicker: when it flops a pair of aces the jack plays, so you're ahead of the weaker aces that call. A♠ 5♠ almost never wins by pairing — a pair of aces with a five kicker is out-kicked by nearly every other ace out there. Its whole value is the nut-flush draw and the blocker, not the ace itself. Read A♠ 5♠ as a flush-and-steal hand and A♠ J♠ as a made-hand machine, and you'll stop paying off the exact hands that dominate a bare ace.

Verdict — play A♠ 5♠ for the nut flush and the blocker, not for the ace it rarely wins with
Avoid these

4 starting-hand mistakes to avoid

Playing any two suited cards

Fix Being suited only adds a few percent of equity. 7♠ 2♠ is still the worst hand in poker — suitedness rescues good hands, not trash.

Overvaluing offsuit face cards

Fix K-J, Q-T and K-T offsuit are domination magnets — when they make top pair, a better kicker is often already in the pot.

Calling raises with weak aces

Fix A-9 offsuit against an early-position raise is behind almost every ace that would open. A high card isn't a reason to call.

Treating the chart as fixed everywhere

Fix It's a 6-max cash baseline. Tighten at full-ring tables and in early seats; open up on the button and in the blinds.

Test yourself

Would you play it?

Three preflop spots. Decide, then check the reasoning.

Question 1 / 3 Score 0

Which is the stronger starting hand before the flop?

FAQ

Starting hands — common questions

What do 'suited' and 'offsuit' mean?

Suited hands are two cards of the same suit (A♠ K♠) and can make a flush; offsuit hands are two different suits (A♠ K♦). On the grid, suited hands sit above the diagonal and offsuit below.

Why does the chart depend on position?

It's a starting framework, not a fixed law. Acting later means more information and more control, so you can profitably open far more hands on the button than under the gun. Tighten early, widen late.

Should I ever play hands in the 'fold' zone?

Occasionally — to steal blinds or balance your range against strong opponents. But as a beginner, folding them by default is close to optimal and saves you from the trickiest, most expensive spots.

Does this chart work for tournaments?

It's built for cash-game depth. Short stacks in tournaments shift toward push-or-fold decisions, where the exact hand mixes change — but the core idea (tight early, wide late) still holds.

Keep sharpening

Keep sharpening

Pot Odds Calculator

Once you're in a pot with a good hand, price your draws and calls correctly.

Open →

Which Hand Wins

Practice reading the showdowns your strong starting hands lead to.

Open →

Hand Rankings

Know exactly what beats what before you decide which hands to play.

Open →