Poker Range Calculator

What is a poker range?

A range is the set of all possible hands a player could have in a given situation. You almost never know your opponent's exact two cards, but you can usually narrow them to a range of plausible hands based on their actions.

When a tight UTG player open-raises in a 6-max cash game, their range is roughly: 99+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+ (about 5.7% of the hands you are dealt). It's NOT a single hand: it's 12 of the 169 starting hand classes, 76 card combinations, that they would choose to play in that spot.

Range thinking is the foundation of every modern poker decision. Bad players think "does my hand beat HIS hand?" and are right or wrong by accident. Good players think "does my hand beat his RANGE?" and get the right answer 95% of the time because they're working with the actual probability distribution.

How to build a range on the 13×13 grid

The grid above is the standard 169-hand visualization used by every serious poker tool. Here's the layout:

• → Diagonal cells (top-left to bottom-right) are pocket pairs: AA, KK, QQ, ..., 22.
• → Above the diagonal = suited hands (AKs, AQs, KQs, etc.).
• → Below the diagonal = offsuit hands (AKo, AQo, KQo, etc.).
• → Click a hand class to add it to your range. The combo count and percentage update live.

Combos vs hand classes: a single class like "AKs" represents 4 specific combos (one per suit). "AKo" represents 12 combos (4 × 3 suit combinations). "AA" represents 6 combos (the 6 ways to pair two of the four aces). The calculator weights ranges by combo count, not class count, so your equity numbers reflect the actual probability distribution.

Why range vs range beats hand vs hand

Hand vs hand calculations tell you: "If I have AK and they have QQ, what's my equity?" Answer: 43.94%, exact over every board (the AK vs QQ page splits it by suits).

But that's rarely the actual question at the table. The real question is: "If I have AK and they have THEIR RANGE (not specifically QQ), what's my equity?" That answer is much more useful.

Example: you open and get 3-bet. Against a UTG open, the range library's 3-bet is value only; against a cutoff open, it adds bluffs. Your ace-king has:

• → 38.85% offsuit, 41.94% suited against the value 3-bet: AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo (34 combos).
• → 51.22% offsuit, 53.60% suited against the mixed 3-bet: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs, AKo, AQs, KQs, A5s, A4s, K9s, 76s (64 combos).

Same hand, a different range, and ace-king offsuit gains 12.37 points. That is the number a 4-bet or a call turns on, and the calculator above works it out for any two groups: put your hand in one, their range in the other, and deal. These are all-in equities before the flop, from the class matrix behind the table below; one hand against a range is the noisier kind, with a standard error of about 0.12 points at most.

Standard ranges (UTG, BTN, BB defense, GTO)

The preset buttons on each grid load ranges by width: Top 3.6% through Top 44.5% of the hands you are dealt, plus pairs, Broadway and suited connectors. For the named positional ranges below, load them from the range library, which has all of them as one-click presets:

• → UTG / EP open: tightest opening range, 9.8% of hands at 6-max.
• → BTN open: widest opening range, 40.0% of hands.
• → BB defense: defending range vs a single open from late position, 32.7% against the cutoff and 44.5% against the button (very wide because of pot odds).
• → 3-bet value: AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo. Hands strong enough to play a bloated pot.
• → 3-bet bluff: A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s. Suited Aces with blocker effects.

For deeper coverage, see our range library (24 curated ranges) or our strategy cheatsheets (TAG/LAG/NIT/GTO with hand-by-hand recommendations).

Standard range vs range equities

The library's ranges, matched the way they meet at the table, with the player who acted first named first: an open against a blind that defends, an open against a 3-bet, a 3-bet against a 4-bet, and a short-stack shove against the call. Tap a matchup to load both ranges into the calculator above.

All-in equity before the flop: each range's share of the pot if the two are all in now, a tie counting half. It comes from the class matrix of every starting hand against every other, 60,000 trials for each pair (851,760,000 in all), with each pair of hands counted by the ways both can be dealt at once, so card removal is counted. The standard error is under 0.03 points on every row. Position is not in these numbers: they are showdown shares, not what each player wins over the whole hand. Loaded into the calculator, a matchup is dealt 30,000 times, so expect its figure within the ± it prints of the one here, not on it.

Worked range vs range examples

Each example is a row of the table above, with no board: its link loads both ranges into the calculator and deals them.

Example 1: BB defense vs BTN open

The button opens the library's BTN range, 40.0% of hands. You defend the big blind with the library's range against a button open, 44.5%. Load both.

Result: 51.26% / 48.74% in the button's favour before the flop. The big blind defends every hand the button opens, plus 9 more: 98s, Q3s, T7s, J5s, K5o, Q7o, Q2s, T9o, J4s (60 combos), each of them behind the button's range. Against its own range the button would break even, so those 60 combos are its whole edge. Position is not in this number: the button also acts last on every street after the flop.

For the big blind's side of the spot, the price it gets against each open size and how wide the library defends against each seat, see how to defend the big blind.

Example 2: 3-bet equity check

Villain opens UTG with the library's range, 9.8% of hands. The library's 3-bet against it is value only: AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo, 2.6% of hands. Load both: the 3-bet has 63.54% against the open.

Against later opens the library 3-bets wider and adds bluffs: 60.24% for the mixed 3-bet against a cutoff open, 59.82% for the wide 3-bet against a button open. The 3-bet range gets weaker as it widens, and so does the open it faces, so its edge shrinks by 3.72 points from UTG to the button.

The 4-bet is the cost of 3-betting wide. Against a value 4-bet (AA, KK, AKs), the wide 3-bet range has 27.66%: load that spot.

Example 3: Shove or fold at 10 big blinds

Heads-up with 10 big blinds, the small blind's solved shoving range is 58.4% of hands and the big blind's solved calling range 37.3%. Load both: when called, the shove has 45.13%.

Behind when called, and still the right play: the big blind folds the other 62.7% of its hands, and every fold wins the blinds with no showdown. Equity is half of a push-or-fold decision; how often the other player folds is the other half. The push/fold chart has the solved ranges at every depth.

These examples are all before the flop. Add flop cards in step 3 and deal again to see how the same two ranges do on a given board.

Common mistakes

1. 1. Building too narrow a range for villain. Most players underestimate how wide modern ranges are. A "tight" UTG opener at NL10 still has 9.8% of hands. A LAG BTN can have 45%+. Don't default to "they only have AA-QQ" thinking.
2. 2. Forgetting blockers. If you hold ace-king, you BLOCK villain's: of the 16 ways to be dealt AK, only 9 are left for them. The calculator handles blockers automatically when you specify your hand. But on the flop, board cards block ranges too: an ace on the flop leaves villain 12 of the 16.
3. 3. Using equity without considering position. 55% equity in position is much more valuable than 55% equity out of position. Position lets you realize more of your equity through better postflop decisions. Don't use raw equity as a play-or-fold rule. Factor in position.

FAQ