Poker Pre Flop Chart
Preflop Strategy. Hand Guide: Preflop Flop Turn River. Preflop Planning is an excellent guide on how to think before the flop when deciding whether to fold, call or raise based on your position and starting hand. It's the perfect compliment to this article. Preflop overview. Hold 'em Preflop Play Strategy Guide. There are many Hold 'em starting hand charts available. There's at least two available here on CardsChat as well, not counting ones that have been posted in. This 6-max Preflop Chart was developed by our coaching team, after analyzing 15 million hands – so you can rely on it fully. We paid special attention to making the chart simple to use, and fitting on 1 page for ease of use. It will give you an edge at the tables, so make sure you either print it out, or memorize it.
In Holdem, when you have a very short stack of 10bb or less, your preflop strategy is basically limited to shoving or calling a shove. An optimal strategy will depend on your opponent’s flaws, as exploiting their flaws will be the most profitable approach.
However, it is essential to comprehend what a balanced preflop gto strategy is so that you can spot their leaks and avoid making errors yourself. The Texas Holdem poker hands charts that we will present below will help you master preflop gto strategy when playing with a short stack.
Gto based Preflop Shove Strategy – Early Position
From an early position, even with a short stack, you must play your strongest hands. This means playing mostly premium starting hands and suited Broadway cards.
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for shoving under the gun in a 9 handed-table with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Gto based Preflop Shove Strategy – Middle Position
From a middle position, you still play strong hands. Now you can add some more suited starting hands, notably suited aces, some more additional unsuited Broadway cards, like KJo and small pairs.
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for shoving from middle position 2 in a 9 handed-table with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Gto based Preflop Shove Strategy – Late Position
From late position, as the players left to act are reduced, your push range starts to become much wider.
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for shoving from the cutoff with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
From the button, your range can be even looser. Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for shoving from the cutoff with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Gto based Preflop Shove Strategy – Small Blind
From the small blind, you can become super aggressive. Now you only have to worry about the big blind having a strong hand!
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for shoving from the small blind with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Gto based Calling a Shove Strategy – Early Position
When you are facing a shove, as the gap concept suggests you need a stronger hand than what you would shove with in the same position if you were first in.
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from utg +1 an utg shove with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Gto based Calling a Shove Strategy – Middle Position
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from middle position a shove from middle position with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Gto based Calling a Shove Strategy – Late Position
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from the button a shove from middle position with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Poker Preflop Chart
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from the button a shove from the cutoff with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Gto based Calling a Shove Strategy – The Blinds
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from the small blind a shove from under the gun with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from the small blind a shove from middle position with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from the big blind a shove from the cutoff with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from the big blind a shove from the button with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
Below is a Texas Holdem gto based chart for calling from the big blind a shove from the small blind with a 10bb, 8bb, and 6bbstack.
This chart details the Hole Cards that we believe you should open with in an 8-max No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournament without antes – such as Match Poker Online’s™ Scrap game. They are dependent on your position, explained below.
The positions around a table in an 8-player game, clockwise from the Dealer Button, are:
- Button/Dealer (BTN)
- Small Blind (SB)
- Big Blind (BB)
- Under The Gun (UTG)
- Under The Gun +1 (UTG+1)
- Lojack (LJ)
- Hijack (HJ)
- Cutoff (CO)
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How to interpret this chart:
Poker Preflop Charts Tournament
This chart shows all the possible Hole Cards you could be dealt – ‘s’ for ‘suited’ and ‘o’ for ‘offsuit’.
When you are UTG (i.e. directly to the left of the Big Blind), this chart suggests you should only open (i.e. bet first) with the cards in the Red boxes.
The same goes for UTG+1 (i.e. left of UTG).
When you are in the Lojack (LJ) or Hijack (HJ) positions, more hand combinations open up. The chart suggests you can now open with all of the cards in the Orange boxes in addition to the ones in the Red boxes.
In the Cutoff position, even more hand combinations open up. The chart now suggests you can open with all of the cards in the Yellow boxes in addition to the ones in the Orange and Red boxes.
Next you reach the Button and Small Blind, where more options are available to you, including all of those that were available in the earlier positions. In these positions, the chart suggests you can open with any cards in any of the coloured boxes.
Any boxes that are white are those you would usually never open.
Lastly, once you are familiar with this chart and have applied it in practise, you’ll begin to learn how to deviate from these guidelines when the situation calls for it. [Click here to learn why position is so important in poker!]
Learning to quickly recognise what position you are in and how this translates to what hands you should open with will quickly improve your play. We see nothing wrong with printing this guide out and following it religiously in Scrap games (as well as in the first stage of Elimination games) as you learn to find your feet in poker. Diligence is key at this stage in your learning.
Poker Hand Range Chart
Watch your Rating Points soar as you learn to follow this guide!
*Editors Note: We frequently get feedback from players that this chart has led them astray. For example: “I had K3o on the Button and folded, per this chart, and the Flop came out 3-3-K. I could’ve won 3000 chips because three other people played that hand, who I would’ve beaten.”
To this, our response is that we apologise for leading you astray in that hand, but, in the long run, this chart will ensure you end up in front. We explain this in our article on Expected Value – an integral concept for all aspirational poker players.