Preflop Range Charts

🤔 Let’s now take a look at how these famous preflop range charts work.

How to read a preflop range chart?

Each chart provides the ideal preflop strategy for each hand you might receive.

For example, let’s look at the Big Blind (BB) preflop range chart when facing an All-in from the Small Blind (SB) with 18 to 25bb in Heads-up (2 players at the table).

This corresponds to the following situation:

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And here’s the corresponding preflop range chart (excerpt from Poker Sciences Spin Charts) :

Thanks to this chart, you can see, for example, that when you have between 18 and 25bb in the BB and face an all-in from the SB, you should call the all-in with only a minority of hands (specifically, only the very strong hands).

All other hands should be folded.

What do the letters "o" and "s" mean?

"o" and "s" after the hand name, such as AKo or 64s, refer to:

• "s" (for "suited"): cards of the same suit (two spades, two diamonds, two hearts, or two clubs). For example: A♦️ K♦️ or 7♥️ 4♥️

• "o" (for "offsuit"): cards of different suits. For example: K♥️ 9♦️

Example of reading the chart

To make things even clearer, let’s take two examples:

• If you have A♥️ 9♥️ -> A9s ("s" because the cards are the same suit) -> green box -> call. The most profitable option when you have A♥️ 9♥️ and face an all-in from the SB is to call the all-in.
• If you have A♥️ 8♦️ -> A8o ("o" because the cards are different suits) -> blue box -> fold. In this case, the most profitable option is to fold!

😃 So, what exactly does Poker Sciences offer in terms of preflop range charts?

What Poker Sciences offers you

For now, we have two products, one paid and one free:

1️⃣ Poker Sciences Spin Charts: This product combines ALL the necessary and sufficient preflop range charts to win at Spin in a single application -> click here to learn more (opens in a new tab)

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2️⃣ Push or Call Charts (free) : Two charts that tell you exactly when to go all-in or call an all-in when you are down to just two players at the table. A must-have for any poker player -> click here to learn more (opens in a new tab)

Why are these two products unique?

The Poker Sciences Spin Charts contain 293 preflop charts, which may seem intimidating 😨.

But thanks to our explanations, you'll truly understand why each decision is optimal. No other site offers this.

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Rather than simply memorizing these charts (which is impossible), you gain access to a general analysis of each spot, the typical behavior of your opponents, their mistakes, how to exploit them, and much more.

Result: You memorize much faster, and you really understand your actions rather than performing them robotically 🤖.

🤩 Ok, great! But who exactly are these two products (the Poker Sciences Spin charts and the Push or Call charts) for?

Products for Spin players

The Spin & Go formats, such as Expresso and Spin & Gold, are dynamic and fast-paced, played in 3-max and then heads-up (HU), meaning with three and then two players at the table.

With small stacks, typically between 6bb and 25bb, players are forced to make quick and precise decisions. This format, therefore, requires effective preflop strategies to maximize profits.

<span class="explanation_section">📈 It’s estimated, thanks to solvers, that between 70% and 80% of profits in Spin come from preflop play. This shows just how crucial preflop play is in this format.</span>

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Moreover, Spin is Poker Sciences' specialty, which is why the Poker Sciences Spin Charts and Push or Call Ranges are specifically designed for Spin players (Expresso, Spin & Gold, Spin & Go, etc.).

For MTT and Cash-Game players, Poker Sciences will likely offer products for these formats in the future, but that’s not the case just yet.

The text above 👆 explains 95% of what you need to know about preflop range charts. But if you’d like to dive a bit deeper, here’s more information that might interest you.

What is GTO?

GTO (Game Theory Optimal) is a strategy based on game theory that aims to make your play unexploitable by balancing your decisions between bluffs and strong hands, regardless of your opponent.

Instead of trying to guess your opponent’s play, GTO allows you to adopt a mathematically optimal (almost "robotic") approach that prevents you from being exploited and ensures long-term profits.

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<span class="explanation_section">🤖 The vast majority of preflop range charts available online are based on a GTO approach.</span>

Is GTO really a perfect game?

There’s sometimes a debate about the truly "perfect" nature of GTO (Game Theory Optimal). We’ve intentionally placed the word "perfect" in quotation marks, because in reality, there’s a more effective strategy than GTO for exploiting opponents' mistakes: Exploitative play.

<span class="explanation_section">⚖️ GTO is a "perfect" game in the mathematical sense: It’s a perfectly balanced game that prevents you from being exploited. But often, deviating from this "perfection" to more directly exploit your opponents’ mistakes leads to more profits.</span>

Indeed, when you play exploitatively, you intentionally deviate from the purely GTO model in order to take advantage of your opponents' weaknesses (especially recreational players).

<span class="explanation_section">➡️ In practice, it’s advised to play a more "GTO" strategy against very good players (the top 5% of players you’ll encounter at your tables) and to adopt an exploitative style against "fish" who make many mistakes (about 95% of your opponents in Spin).</span>

Poker Sciences Spin Charts: The Best of Both Exploitative and GTO Play Combined

For each preflop range chart in Poker Sciences Spin Charts, you have two versions:

1. Vs Reg (GTO): For facing competent players, close to GTO (5% of your opponents in Spin).

2. Vs Fish (Exploitant): To maximize your EV against players who make many mistakes (95% of your opponents in Spin).

By combining these two approaches, you’ll always be able to adapt to any opponent and achieve the highest possible profit at the table.

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<span class="explanation_section">👉 For beginner or intermediate players, we recommend focusing initially on the "vs Fish" charts, as they are more than sufficient to be profitable in Spin.</span>

And finally, for the most courageous who want to dive even deeper, here’s how we created our preflop range charts, particularly the exploitative charts 👇

Note that it's absolutely not necessary to understand everything written below to fully benefit from the Poker Sciences Spin Charts and the Push or Call charts.

How did we create these ranges?

1. Analysis of over 1 million real hands (PokerStars, Winamax...)

• Exclusive database: We studied more than 1 million hands that we actually played in Spin & Go (from €0.25 to €20) to identify recurring mistakes made by "fish":
  • Typical example: Not enough 3-bet shoves with 18BB+, excessive folds in SB at 6BB, too wide calls in HU.
  • Pro tools: Combined GTO Wizard and HRC to model leaks and calculate optimal ranges.

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2. Exploitative Strategies Anti-Fish 🎣

• Priority #1: Maximize immediate EV against recreational players.
  • Practical example: At 12BB HU, recreational players don’t adjust their sizing when facing an open from BB → our preflop ranges recommend increasing open sizings with strong hands.
• Priority #2: Avoid excessive variance to optimize your CEV (chip EV).
  • Practical case: Sacrificing +0.5BB of EV to avoid a risky all-in at 20BB, preserving your postflop advantage and your stack for future hands.

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3. Smart Simplification 🧠

• Memorization > Complexity: Visual grouping of hands (+ intuitive colors) and removal of marginal hands (-1% of max EV).
  • Validation: Our simplified ranges maintain 99% of the EV of more complex ranges.

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4. Stack Dynamics & Metagame 📊

• Adaptive balance: Fewer compromises on EV in small stacks (e.g., 4-10BB), where every decision counts.
• Practical realism: Exclusion of overly theoretical strategies (e.g., a 100% min-raise in HU would be ideal, but unrealistic in practice for several reasons).