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There are 1,326 ways to be dealt two cards and only 169 that matter, because suits are interchangeable before the flop. That is what the grid above is: every starting hand in Hold'em, pairs down the diagonal, suited hands above it and offsuit below. Pick a seat and it colors in what to raise, what to fold, and the hands worth playing some of the time — and tells you what share of all hands that adds up to.
All 169 starting hands, colored by what to do with them
Switch between every seat from under the gun to the big blind
Shows the percentage of hands each range actually plays
Starting hands
You act last on every street after the flop. That is why this range is close to half of all hands. ≈49% of all hands.
Six-handed cash game, 100 big blinds deep. The percentages come from the chart above rather than being quoted at it, so the two can never disagree.
Seat
Under the gun
Opens
≈14%
What that looks like
Pairs from sevens up, strong suited aces, a handful of broadways
Seat
Hijack
Opens
≈20%
What that looks like
All pairs, most suited aces, suited connectors down to 87s
Seat
Cutoff
Opens
≈30%
What that looks like
Every pair and suited ace, most suited kings, broadway offsuit
Seat
Button
Opens
≈49%
What that looks like
Any pair, any suited ace or king, most suited hands, a wide offsuit range
Seat
Small blind
Opens
≈43%
What that looks like
Wide, but raise-or-fold — there is no limping band on this chart
Seat
Big blind
Opens
≈50% defend
What that looks like
Called rather than raised, because you are getting a discount
169 hands, and the gap between the top and the bottom of them is larger than most people playing a home game assume.
Best
Hand
AA
Why
Beats every other starting hand before the flop, roughly 4 in 5 times heads-up
Second
Hand
KK
Why
Only afraid of one card, and it arrives on the flop about 1 time in 5
Third
Hand
Why
Strong, and the first hand that has to think about overcards
Best suited
Hand
AKs
Why
Makes the nut flush and the nut straight, and dominates every other ace
Worst playable
Hand
22
Why
Wins by flopping a set 1 time in 8 and folding the rest
Worst
Hand
72o
Why
No straight, no flush, no high card. The only hand nobody argues about
Before the flop, the ace of spades and the ace of hearts are the same card in every way that matters. What counts is whether your two cards are a pair, whether they share a suit, and what their ranks are. Collapse the 1,326 possible deals on that basis and you get 169 distinct hands, which is small enough to draw on a single grid and learn by looking at it. Pairs run down the diagonal, suited hands sit above it, offsuit hands below.
The most common mistake with a starting-hands chart is treating it as a list of good and bad hands. King-jack offsuit is a fold under the gun and a clear raise on the button, and nothing about the cards changed — what changed is how many players still get to act. That is why this chart has a seat selector rather than a single ranking, and why the percentage moves from about 14% to nearly 50% as you click across it.
Aces, kings, queens and ace-king are the hands that are strong on their own, and together they are 2.6% of all deals — roughly one hand in every 38. Everything else you play is playable because of what it can become, not because of what it is. Recreational players tend to invert this: they wait for the premium hands and then play far too many mediocre ones out of boredom while they wait.
Seven-two offsuit. It cannot make a straight without four cards on the board doing all the work, it cannot make a flush, and when it pairs it pairs low with the worst kicker in the deck. Nothing else on the chart is quite as bad, which is why it is the traditional punishment hand in home games — win a pot with it and the table has to pay a forfeit. Play it for that reason if you like; do not play it for a poker reason.
Two suited cards make a flush about 6.5% of the time by the river, which is worth roughly two to three percentage points of equity over the same hand offsuit. That is a real edge and it is not a licence to play any two cards of the same suit. Queen-three suited is still a fold from almost every seat; the suit does not rescue a hand that is dominated when it hits.
The gold-brown cells are hands worth raising some of the time and folding the rest, and they are not a hedge. They exist because the correct frequency depends on things a chart cannot see: how the players behind you have been playing, how deep the stacks are, whether the game is passive enough that stealing works. If your table folds too much, play the whole mixed band. If somebody behind you re-raises constantly, fold it.
These are six-handed ranges. At a nine-handed table there are three more players who can wake up with a hand, so every seat should play closer to the range shown for the seat two to its right — a nine-handed hijack looks more like a six-handed under the gun. The button and the blinds barely change, because the number of players still to act after them is the same either way.
Do not try to memorise 169 cells. Pick the seat you play worst — for most people it is the cutoff or the small blind — and learn just that column of the chart. One seat played properly is worth more than six seats played approximately, and it takes a single session to make it automatic. When the game is running on PokerChip.live the seat order and the blinds move on their own, so the only thing left to think about is the hand.
FAQ
01
A grid of all 169 distinct two-card hands in Texas Hold'em, colored by what to do with each one from a given seat. Pairs run down the diagonal, suited hands sit above it and offsuit hands below.
02
Pocket aces, then kings, queens and ace-king suited. Those four hands are about 2.6% of all deals, or roughly one hand in every 38.
03
Seven-two offsuit. It cannot make a straight or a flush without enormous help from the board, and when it pairs it pairs low with the worst possible kicker.
04
1,326 possible deals, which collapse to 169 distinct hands once you treat suits as interchangeable before the flop.
05
They are six-handed ranges. At a full ring table play roughly the range shown for the seat two to the right of yours — the button and the blinds change least.
06
Raise it some of the time and fold it the rest. The right frequency depends on the table: play the whole band against players who fold too much, and none of it against someone who re-raises constantly.
07
Better, not much better. Suited cards make a flush about 6.5% of the time by the river, worth roughly two to three points of equity. It does not rescue a hand that is dominated when it connects.
08
As a starting point, yes — it is far better than playing by feel. Once you can follow it without thinking, the deviations that make money come from reading the specific players behind you.
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