[POKER RANGES] Starting hands charts for MTT, Spin & Go, Cash Games

Winners have at least two things in common:

• They know why they play the hands they choose to open and the blinds they decide to defend. They know their preflop choices by heart to the point where they barely need to think about their basic strategies.
• They easily and quickly estimate the hands their opponents might have in each playing situation to make the right decisions. The keys to success: maximizing value with winning hands or folding as quickly as possible when there's nothing to be done.

You're probably wondering:

"How do I know when to raise, call, or check?"
"Does being UTG versus Button impact my decision?"
"If you're unlucky and the flop doesn't help, how do you win?"
"How do you guess opponents' cards with just the information you have?"

We'll answer all of this, but first:

What is a poker range?

A range in poker is a set of hands that a player can have at any given moment. It's also called a hand range. A player's range varies based on their profile and the playing situation. It's often visualized through a grid (or chart) representing all possible hand combinations in No Limit Hold'em.

In this grid, the diagonal represents pairs: from Aces to Deuces. Below the diagonal are offsuit cards, and above are suited cards.

Hands located in the top left of the grid are very strong hands. Hands just above the diagonal are suited connectors: they more often make straight draws or flush draws post-flop when opening or defending our big blind.

With Poker Toolkit, you can easily work on your poker game and become better when playing at a poker table.
You can find hands to play according to different table situations as shown in the example below.

A range evolves throughout preflop and postflop betting rounds

A player's range represents the hole cards they could have received at the start of the hand. Until any action has occurred, the player could have any possible hand. With each player choice: fold, call, or raise, we can refine the range they represent.

For example: In a 100bb deep Cash Game hand, everyone folds to the button who decides to open 3bb.
With this button open, we can estimate their range represents at least the top 50% of hands

The Small Blind folds and the Big Blind decides to raise to 9bb.
With this Big Blind raise, we can estimate their range consists of premium hands like AA - QQ, suited connectors like KQs - JTs and potential bluffs like A5s.

It's the button's turn and they decide to 4bet all-in for 100bb (which is very unusual).
This action not making much sense, we can assume the button is a recreational player and has AA - KK - AK to not hesitate going all-in.

The Big Blind folds.
We can remove AA and KK from their range. They actually had KQs but had to fold being far behind the range they estimate their opponent has.

In this fictional preflop hand, with each action, both players' ranges narrow down and ultimately allows making better decisions by taking them into account. It works a bit like a game of "Guess Who?" where the opponent answers our questions through their actions.

Estimating opponents' ranges to win is the right strategy

To make good decisions, you need to consider the cards that opponents have but it's impossible to know them exactly. That's why we work with ranges, we estimate all the cards an opponent can have at any moment.

We can classify ranges (whether preflop or postflop) into different types:

What is a merged range?

A merged range consists of strong to very strong hands. It's value-oriented with very strong hands (the nuts) but also includes some strong or medium hands that can hit more boards. Playing only nuts is often bad because opponents can simply fold whenever the player bets.

What is a polarized range?

A polarized range consists of very strong hands and very weak hands like bluffs. No medium hands are present in a polarized range. A player ends up with a polarized range when they play their bluffs and nutted hands the same way. It's not uncommon to end up all-in at the river or even before with a polarized range.

It's very complicated to play against a polarized player because it comes down to hoping to catch the right side of their range when calling or raising.

What is a capped range?

A capped range is a range that doesn't contain the best possible hand. Most often a player makes their range capped when they call when they should raise if they had the nuts. When a player has a capped range, it's very interesting to try to bluff them because they can't have the maximum hand.

What is a mixed range?

A mixed range is one that mixes all hand strengths to hit as many boards as possible. It's very complicated to master because there are many possible situations and you need to succeed in being aggressive and abandoning the hand if necessary.

Observe opponents playing to define their style based on context (position, stack, profile...)

In Texas Hold'em as in other variants in Cash Games and MTTs, a good tip is to be attentive to as many hands as possible, even ones where you've folded. These are the moments when you have the most time to observe the plays of opponents present at the table. Profiling players is essential to know if a certain player opens many hands preflop and only bets postflop when hitting a hand, or if another player opens very few hands and only their strong hands preflop but bets in all cases postflop whether they hit the board or not. This will help us in future hands to have a better read on the opponent's game.

Profiling players allows us to refine our range estimates even more precisely because we have more answers to each opponent action.

What conclusion to draw from the estimated range for the opponent to win the hand?

By estimating all the hands they can have, we can determine the probabilities that they are nutted, drawing, with a medium hand, totally bluffing, etc...

If we estimate the opponent's range at the river is AA - KK - QQ or 22 and the board is AAKQQ, they will be nutted 75% of the time with 18 combos of AA, KK and QQ and bluffing 25% of the time with their 6 combos of 22. Thanks to estimating their range, it's easier to make the right choice.

We realize that against a range consisting only of nuts, it's better to abandon the hand and limit losses as quickly as possible while against a capped range, it's very interesting to bluff if our range isn't capped and we can therefore have the best hand.

Against a polarized range played by an aggressive player, it will be very difficult to go to showdown and see the opponent's hand without betting a large portion of your chips.

Anticipating all these game scenarios allows making the right choice as early as possible whether it's betting or folding. Anticipating different scenarios starts with anticipating what we're going to play according to different game situations.

And yes, selecting the hands we're going to decide to play gives a considerable advantage over players who haven't spent time building their ranges.

Why define your preflop strategy by selecting starting hands?

The majority of errors that make us lose our tournaments, make us losing players in Cash Games or prevent us from increasing our Bankroll happen preflop. By working and defining the card combinations we'll open or defend, we reduce the number of errors we'll make and improve our long-term profits.

There are 1326 different hand combinations and many more different playing situations. Between positions at the table, stack depths, opponent profiles, tournament stages (early, middle, on the bubble, ITM, in the late stages, at the final table), it's not obvious to know what to do between folding, calling or raising.

We end up opening hands without really knowing why and when we get 3bet or when the flop comes, we're lost and quickly become losing players...

In the case of PLO and other game variants, when you have more than 2 cards, it's very complicated to visualize all possible combinations which increase exponentially. We go from 1326 for NLHE to 49,700 combinations for PLO4.

Be ready to play correctly preflop for each position at the table

Using a GTO poker chart

A GTO poker chart is a strategy tool based on mathematical calculations to help players make optimal decisions in certain playing situations. Players can use GTO charts to maximize their long-term win rate by choosing mathematically optimal actions. GTO charts are particularly useful in online poker tournament strategies and formats such as Winamax Expresso, where probabilities are essential.

However, it's important to note that GTO charts aren't always applicable to all playing situations, as optimal strategies can vary depending on the opponent, table dynamics, and other factors. Players must therefore use their judgment to adapt their game according to the situation to sometimes use an exploitative game against the opponent.

Anticipate playing situations

For as many situations as possible, we must know our game plan in advance, before even being confronted with it.
By anticipating the hand range we'll play, we know what we're doing and don't get lost along the way.

The most important thing is to be ready, to understand, to know what we're doing and why we're doing it!

A well-mastered preflop game will avoid us a maximum of very complex postflop situations and therefore will avoid losing all our chips.

By working on your game, you also work on your ability to estimate villain's range

By working on your ranges (open, call, 3bet...), selecting hands and deciding what you'll do with them according to different flops and boards, you improve your analysis. Your ability to estimate villain's choices improves at the same time as you refine the cards you want to play.

There's always the risk of facing a player we can call a "degen" whose game is impossible to analyze. They'll be capable of shoving all-in with T8s preflop without any reason. Against this type of player, don't try to understand what they're doing, just play very tight and only for value until they give away all their chips.

How to work on your tournament or cash game?

To work on our preflop game, there's tons of content on the internet.
Between YouTube videos, articles and forums, you can find advice on:

• opening frequency recommended based on position
• how to evolve your opening frequency based on villain profiles
• situations conducive to light 3betting, flatting
• range differences when IP (in position) or OOP (out of position)
• ...

Here are some sites that can help you:

Kill Tilt

Among the different resources you can find on the internet, there's kill-tilt.fr. You can find tons of content there on different poker formats: Cash Games, MTTs and Spin & Go. On Kill Tilt's YouTube channel, you'll find real guides that will help you in your approach to poker whether you're a beginner or not.

Poker forums

There are many forums like Wam Poker, Club Poker, Poker Académie, or Kill Tilt to name just a few. On these forums, many players discuss the numerous questions that different participants have. It's possible to get opinions from different players on how to play a specific hand to better identify mistakes and avoid repeating them.

All these tips and concepts are nice, but how do I go from: "I watch a YouTube video" to "I apply it at my tables and make fewer mistakes"

Are micro limit cash game poker ranges the same as high stakes MTT poker ranges?

No! Context and situation are essential for building ranges. The better your opponents are, the more balanced your ranges need to be to avoid being readable.

In Cash Games, losing your stack has minor consequences: you just need to rebuy to return to the same situation as before the lost hand.

In MTTs, losing your stack has varying consequences depending on the tournament stage: 4 hours of play and concentration can be reduced to nothing without winning a penny.

Risk-taking must therefore be adapted and ranges too.

Do ranges change between online poker and live casino poker?

Since the context is different, your ranges can be too. If you're less comfortable in live casino facing other players, you can have slightly tighter ranges to simplify your postflop play.

What are push or fold charts in MTT?

Push or fold is a playing style that lives up to its name where only two actions are possible: pushing your stack (push) or folding. These charts represent preflop ranges used by a player when their stack becomes so small that there's no room for maneuver except going all-in or folding. This is a recurring situation for tournament players. The goal of pushing is to steal blinds to survive with a stack that allows regaining good playability in case you double up.

The "push or fold" concept is linked to Nash equilibrium theory, which is used to determine the optimal strategy for a player in a non-cooperative zero-sum game, such as poker. Nash equilibrium is reached when each player uses the best possible strategy based on their opponent's strategy, and no player has an incentive to change strategy.

When to limp in poker?

Limping in poker can be a difficult technique to master, especially for beginners. Indeed, it's important to know when limping can be an advantageous strategy, and when it's better to avoid it. If you're a beginning player, it might be preferable to focus on simpler playing techniques and only limp when you're sure you can take advantage of this strategy.

How to define a Winamax Expresso range or a Nitro Expresso range?

Since Expresso games are very short-stacked, one of the simplest ways to play them is to work well on your push or fold ranges. However, playing Winamax Expresso only in push or fold isn't the most optimal technique.

What tool/software to define your preflop strategy?

You need to define the hand context (tournaments or cash game / Limit or buy-in (entry fee, that is the tournament price) / Number of people at the table / Effective stacks / Our position / Whether the pot is open or not...). From this context, we'll choose the card combinations we'll raise, call, or fold.

Several possibilities are available to us:

• Use Excel or Google Sheets and build your ranges from scratch and organize them properly on your computer.
• Make our charts on paper and organize and sort them properly to easily find them.
• Use the software or applications available on the market like Poker Toolkit. There are almost infinite situations to define and work on. Poker Toolkit allows you to be guided if you wish and also to finely customize your ranges. The ranges are accessible anywhere and anytime by simply connecting to the application from any device. You can work on your ranges during commuting and use this downtime if you wish.

A free range editor or ranger to become better

Poker Toolkit offers a set of ranges for free to have an initial working base.
In this ranger, they can be consulted within the application as in the following example.

1. The situation or context

The grids can be organized in a meaningful folder hierarchy, allowing to recreate a hand context adapted to each situation. Thanks to this sequence of folders, it becomes possible to precisely define the game type (Expresso, MTT or Cash Game), our position at the table and that of the opponent. This flexible structure offers a clear and customizable way to describe each scenario with accuracy.

2. Adapt decisions for yourself

For each action, you can see the number of hand combinations that the grid contains and the percentage of hands that this represents.

To edit the different ranges, just click on the brush and color the grid!
To select a precise number of combinationsfor a hand, simply have no range type selected and on the grid, click on the hand in question.

Now that we know the hands we play and the reasons why we chose them, it's time to learn them by heart.

What tool to learn your preflop ranges?

Knowing your ranges is like knowing your multiplication tables in elementary school, it's essential!
To learn them, everyone can use their own method:

• The visual method: look at the grids several times to print them in your brain
• The auditory method: recite aloud what you should play
• ...

It's important to monitor the state of our knowledge. The simplest way is to recite them to someone so they can point out our errors to identify and correct them.

I agree...
But who's going to want to listen to me recite for hours?

Memorize your opening ranges through smart repetition

To memorize information by heart, it's important to repeat the information: initially at high frequency, then at lower frequency, then as a refresher.

It's important at the very beginning to review your ranges very regularly (once a day/several times a week). To maintain the information in memory, reviewing once a week then once a month should be sufficient.

In Poker Toolkit, a feature is specially designed to help you review. For a given situation, hands are presented to you and you must indicate whether to raise, call, or fold. When you validate your choice, you know immediately if your answer is right or wrong and most importantly what the correct answer was.

Take time to apply your work at the tables

After building and learning your ranges, take time to apply them at the tables by starting with reducing the number of simultaneous tables.

Playing fewer tables allows you to be more focused, not play in automatic mode, and follow your ranges, estimate opponent ranges, and make decisions based on this.

Playing while focusing only on these range concepts will allow you to integrate them deeply over time. The concept is fully acquired when it's applied unconsciously.

The most important thing in poker isn't the cards, it's what you do with them!

And sometimes, what you need to do is fold them!

It's possible that gamblers who have never worked on their ranges before might feel like they spend their time folding but it's for your own good.

You still need to find the right balance and not wait to have only the best hands like Ace King to play!