How to read poker ranges
(without the overwhelm)

A poker range chart can look like a wall of tiny squares. Once you understand its layout, it becomes a useful way to organize your decisions. This guide covers the basics for no-limit Hold’em cash games and multi-table tournaments, without asking you to memorize an entire strategy at once.

1. Start with the idea of a range

A range is a collection of hands a player could hold or choose to play in a particular situation. Thinking in ranges helps you move beyond “they must have ace-king” and consider several possible hands.

A starting-hand chart describes a decision before the flop. It might show which hands open-raise from the button, or how the big blind responds to an earlier raise. Those are different questions, so they need different charts.

Your first job is simple: identify the question the chart answers.

2. Learn the grid: pairs, suited, offsuit

A standard Hold’em matrix has 13 rows and 13 columns, representing 169 starting-hand classes. The ranks usually run from ace to two. “T” stands for ten.

• Pairs: AA, KK, QQ and the other pocket pairs sit on the diagonal.
• Suited hands: AKs means ace-king with both cards in the same suit, such as A♠ K♠.
• Offsuit hands: AKo means ace-king in different suits, such as A♠ K♥.

On most charts, suited hands appear above the diagonal and offsuit hands below it. Check the labels if a tool uses a different layout.

Each square represents a hand class, rather than one specific deal. Before accounting for known cards, a pocket pair has six combinations, a suited hand has four, and an offsuit hand has twelve. Equally sized squares do not all represent the same number of hands. See PokerStars Learn’s explanation of combinations.

3. Check the situation before using a chart

A useful chart needs context. Before studying one, check:

• Format and table size: Cash or MTT? Six-handed or nine-handed?
• Effective stack: How many big blinds can the relevant players actually put at risk? Heads-up, this is the shorter stack.
• Positions: Where are you, and where is the other player?
• Previous action: Has everyone folded, or are you facing a raise, call or re-raise?
• Bet sizes: What opening and re-raising sizes does the chart assume?
• Costs and tournament conditions: What rake, antes and payout assumptions are included?

For example, a button opening chart does not answer how to respond after another player raises. A 100bb cash chart also should not be treated as a 20bb tournament strategy. Tournament payout pressure can change decisions further.

These inputs are part of the strategy itself. GTO Wizard’s solution descriptions show how models specify stack depths, rake and bet sizes.

4. Read the legend, then the frequencies

Colors can represent raise, call, fold or different bet sizes. There is no universal color code: always read the chart’s own legend.

A split-color square can represent a mixed strategy. As a notation example only, “50% raise / 50% call” means the model uses both actions at those frequencies. It does not mean the hand has a 50% chance of winning. Strategy frequency and equity measure different things. GTO Wizard’s Study Mode guide explains these displays.

Also check the chart’s source. A solver-derived strategy belongs to a particular model, with specified assumptions and available actions. A teaching illustration or simplified chart should be labeled accordingly. A colorful matrix alone does not establish that it is a GTO solution; solver abstractions have practical limits.

5. Turn one chart into a study routine

Choose one spot you regularly encounter, then keep the session small:

1. Name the spot. Write the format, positions, stack depth and action.
2. Notice the shape. Look for groups: pairs, suited aces, broadways and the boundary hands.
3. Test your recall. Hide the chart and reconstruct what you remember.
4. Compare and explain. Record a few misses and what confused you.
5. Return later. Review that same spot before adding several more.

Keep the source and assumptions beside each saved range. In Neko Charts, you can build a personal range library and practice recalling your charts with memory drills. Bring a range from a trusted source first: Neko Charts is a range trainer, rather than a solver.

Poker range questions, answered

Our grid teaches hand notation. It is not a solved GTO range or a recommendation to play any particular hand. This guide links to PokerStars Learn and GTO Wizard for the underlying concepts. Published October 19, 2026.