Hand Range Analyzer: What Hands to Play in Each Position

The number one mistake almost everyone makes starting out in poker is playing too many hands. They sit down, see something half-playable —a J-9, a K-7, a small pair— and call "just to see what happens." Over time, that "just to see" is exactly what drains your stack. The fix isn't memorizing what to do with each individual hand, but learning to think in ranges. And for that, a free online hand range analyzer —where you see at a glance what to play and what to fold based on where you're sitting— beats any printed chart.

What a hand range is

A range is the full set of hands you'd play a certain way in a specific spot. It isn't "do I play this hand?" but "what group of hands do I open from this position?". When an experienced player says "I open 18% from UTG," they're describing a range: the strongest 18% of the 169 possible starting hand combinations. Thinking this way changes everything, because you stop treating each hand as an isolated case and start playing a coherent plan.

Why ranges matter, not individual hands

There are two reasons. The first is for you: with a defined range by position, your preflop decisions stop depending on your mood or boredom. You open what you're supposed to open and fold the rest, without arguing with yourself on every hand.

The second is against your opponent: when someone raises from early position, you can't know their two exact cards, but you can estimate the set of hands they'd do that with —and that's enough to make good decisions. Poker from a decent level up is played range versus range, not card versus card.

How your range changes with position

Position moves the needle more than anything. The more players still to act behind you, the more likely one of them holds a strong hand, so your range should be tighter. The fewer left, the wider you can open. As a reference at a 6-max table:

• UTG (early position): ~12-15% of hands. Medium and high pairs, strong aces, high suited connectors.
• CO (cutoff): ~25-30%. Add medium aces, more connectors and speculative hands.
• BTN (button): ~40-50%. The best seat at the table: you act last on every later street, so you can open almost half your hands.

Same card, different decision: A-9 offsuit is a clear fold from UTG and a comfortable open from the button. The hand doesn't change —the context does.

Open, call and 3-bet: it's not one range, it's three

"What hands to play" also depends on what happened before you. You don't open the same way you respond to a raise:

• Open: nobody has raised and you're the first one in, raising.
• Call vs raise: someone already raised and you decide whether to call. This range is tighter, because you're entering a bigger pot and almost always out of position.
• 3-bet (re-raise): raising over someone who already raised. It mixes premium hands for value with a few hands chosen as bluffs that win by making the opponent fold.

Confusing these three ranges is one of the most expensive mistakes there is, and it's exactly what the analyzer lets you see separately.

How to use the range analyzer, step by step

1. Pick the table format: 6-max or 9-max. It matters, because 9-max has more players behind you and ranges tighten up.
2. Tap your seat at the table (UTG, MP, CO, BTN, SB, BB). The chart updates instantly for that position.
3. Pick the scenario: Open, Call vs raise or 3-Bet.
4. Read the 13×13 grid: the highlighted cells are the hands you do play in that exact spot. The diagonal is pairs; top-right, suited hands; bottom-left, offsuit hands.

In ten seconds you have the exact range for your position and scenario in front of you —nothing to print, no payment and no account needed.

When you want to see your exact range for each position and scenario, open the range analyzer. And if what you want is for recognizing these ranges to become automatic under pressure, the interactive trainer is built for exactly that.