In online poker games, your win rate starts before the flop. If your opening range is too wide, you bleed EV through rake, dominated hands, and tough decisions postflop. If it is too tight, you miss profitable steals and you cap your ability to pressure blinds.
Your goal is simple. Build a default set of opens that wins against unknowns, holds up when you are multi-tabling, and gives you clean, repeatable decisions. Then you adjust based on who is left to act, the blinds, and the table dynamics.
What an Opening Range Really Is
Your opening range is every hand you raise first in from a given position. It is not a list you memorize to feel safe. It is a tool that creates EV through two engines.
- Immediate profit, you win the blinds and antes when everyone folds.
- Future profit, when called, you arrive to the flop with a range that realizes equity well.
Position does the heavy lifting. The later you act, the more information you have, and the more often you can pick up dead money. Context dictates strategy, but position is the baseline that never goes away.
The Hierarchy of Positions
Think of positions as a hierarchy of permission. Early position needs hands that can stand pressure and play well with multiple players behind. Late position gets to include more speculative hands because you will more often be in position postflop.
- UTG and UTG+1, tight and value dense. Your range must survive 3-bets and multi-way pots.
- Lojack and Hijack, you start adding more suited hands and some weaker offsuit broadways.
- Cutoff, you attack blinds and isolate weaker players, widening a lot.
- Button, widest, you print EV because you control position postflop.
- Small blind, tricky, you are out of position versus the big blind, so you open tighter than the button and with a more linear structure.
Relative strength is everything. A hand like AJo can be strong on the button and borderline under the gun, not because the cards changed, but because the ranges around you changed.
Default 100bb Online Opening Ranges
These are solid, rake aware defaults for 100bb cash online. They are not the only correct ranges, but they are coherent. They avoid too many marginal opens that get punished by 3-bets and rake. When you face unknowns, this structure will not collapse.
UTG, Build a Range That Does Not Get Crushed
Open around 14 to 18 percent depending on table toughness. You want hands that can call some 3-bets and hands that can 4-bet for value.
- Value core, 77+, AQo+, AJs+, KQs.
- Mixes, A5s to A4s sometimes, KJs, QJs.
Avoid the hope approach where you open weak suited junk and tell yourself you can fold if raised. In most pools, you are paying rake to see flops with hands that do not realize well.
Hijack and Cutoff, Add Pressure Without Adding Junk
From HJ, you can move to 18 to 22 percent. From CO, often 24 to 30 percent. Your big gain comes from stealing blinds and playing more hands in position.
- HJ additions, 66, ATo, KQo, ATs, KJs, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s.
- CO additions, 55, A9o, KJo, QJo sometimes, more suited aces down to A2s, more suited connectors like 87s, 76s.
Notice the pattern. We prefer hands that either make strong top pairs with good kickers, or hands that make nut draws. That is how you survive aggression and avoid dominated payoffs.
Button, Your Profit Engine
On the BTN, you can open roughly 40 to 55 percent in many online games, especially if the blinds are not 3-betting enough. The button is where your win rate spikes because you realize equity cheaply and you get to apply pressure postflop.
- Include, most suited hands, most broadways, many offsuit connectors like T9o, and a healthy set of suited gappers like 97s.
- Still be selective with offsuit trash. Hands like 84o and 93o add volume, not EV, especially with rake.
When multi-tabling, tighter button opens are fine if they reduce mistakes. A slightly tighter range played cleanly beats a wide range played passively.
Small Blind, Open But Respect Position
In theory you can open wide from the small blind because there is only one player left, but in practice you play out of position in a raked pot. That combination punishes loose opens.
- Solid SB open, roughly 35 to 45 percent with a linear bias.
- Prioritize, suited aces, broadways, suited kings, and hands that can barrel equity.
Do not justify weak opens with set mining logic. Set mining is not a plan. You need fold equity, initiative, and hands that can keep betting when you miss.
Who Is Left to Act Changes Everything
Here is the mistake I see most from students. They open a hand because it is in the chart, but they ignore who is behind them. In online pools, your open frequency should drop when tough 3-bettors are on your left, and it should rise when nits or passive callers are behind.
- 3-bet happy regs behind, tighten the bottom, remove weak offsuit hands first.
- Passive blinds, widen, especially on BTN and CO, because you will realize equity.
- Calling stations, tighten value slightly preflop but open more hands that flop strong draws and nut potential.
Sizing, A Simple Default That Works
Your sizing affects how wide you can profitably open. Bigger opens generate more folds, but make your steals more expensive when you get 3-bet or called. Smaller opens keep your range wide and lower variance.
- Online default, 2.0x to 2.3x from CO and BTN.
- Early position, 2.2x to 2.5x is fine if your pool calls too much.
- Small blind, 2.5x to 3.0x can reduce the big blind ability to over realize, but do not auto size up if the BB is aggressive.
Rake punishes limping and bloated multi-way pots with marginal hands. Raise or fold is the clean default.
Hand Scenario: Button Range in Action
Game, 100bb online cash. You are on the BTN with Q♠J♠. It folds to you, you open to 2.2bb. The BB calls.
Flop, K♣9♥3♠. BB checks.
Action, you c-bet 1.5bb into 4.6bb. This is a standard small c-bet in position. Your range has a lot of strong kings, overpairs, and good backdoor equity. With QJs you also block some KQ and Q9 type continues, and you can improve to the nuts on T turns. BB folds and you win the pot.
Common Leaks When Building Opening Ranges
- Opening dominated offsuit hands too early. KTo and QJo from HJ versus tough players is a slow EV leak.
- Calling too much after opening. If you open hands that cannot continue versus 3-bets, you donate with fold frequency. Tighten, or plan your 4-bets and calls.
- Confusing “playable” with “profitable”. In raked online games, marginal suited hands can be playable and still lose money.
- Ignoring table formation. A wide button range is great, until the blinds are strong regs who fight back every hand.
Key Takeaway
Your default opening range is position driven. Start tight UTG, add suited value and strong broadways as you move toward CO, then open widest on the BTN because position lets you realize equity and apply pressure. Stay rake aware, remove weak offsuit hands first when tough players are left to act, and use simple raise sizes that keep your strategy repeatable when you are multi-tabling.
