Which Hands to Raise Preflop

A well-structured preflop game is crucial for poker success. Selecting the right starting hands for a raise is one of the foundational skills worth developing early on.

In this article, we’ll explore which hands to raise with preflop if all players before you have folded. We’ll also cover how to adjust your opening range based on your table position and opponents’ playing styles.

Table of Contents:

- Early Positions

- Cutoff

- Button

- Small Blind

Early Positions

At a 6-max table, the early positions are the first two: EP and MP.

Playing from early positions requires a tight approach in hand selection since many players act after you, increasing the likelihood that someone holds a strong hand.

Additionally, making an open raise from EP or MP often puts you at a disadvantage because you’ll play postflop out of position, acting first on every street. This limits your maneuvering options and complicates evaluating your opponent’s hand strength.

Using multi-player reports in Hand2Note 4, you can analyze the strategies of top players in your field and incorporate them into your game.

In my database, I selected all the players who have demonstrated a win rate of at least 5 bb/100 over a sample of 10,000 hands or more. I then filtered instances where they made a preflop open raise:

In the Positions report, we see that they open a narrow range of hands from early positions — 12% in EP and 18% in MP.

In a preflop matrix, the top 12% of starting hands include only pocket pairs and the strongest non-pair hands:

This range provides a solid foundation for postflop play and gives you confidence even when playing out of position.

If you are in the MP position and the player before you has already folded, you can slightly widen your range including stronger suited hands and high offsuit cards:

Cutoff

The Cutoff (CO) is the position directly before the Button, offering certain advantages.

Opening from the Cutoff allows you to widen your starting hand range since only three players are left to act. The probability that one of them holds a strong hand is significantly lower than from early positions, letting you open with a more aggressive and frequent raising strategy.

Nonetheless, despite this relative freedom, the Cutoff does not always guarantee a positional advantage postflop. If the Button calls or 3-bets, you’ll be at a disadvantage, so opening too wide here can be risky.

From the Cutoff, you can play roughly twice as many hands as in early positions. This range includes all broadway hands, suited connectors, and speculative suited hands like 86s, 97s, and T8s+.

Standard Cutoff Open-Raising Range

This range allows you to apply pressure on the blinds and provides solid playability on the postflop.

When playing from the Cutoff, be prepared to adjust your open-raise range according to the opponent’s statistics on the Button.

If a loose-aggressive player sits on the Button and tends to 3-bet often, tighten your range and fold borderline hands. Against a passive opponent, you can, conversely, widen your range.

We are dealt A8 offsuit in the Cutoff and everyone before us has folded. Our hand falls outside the standard open-raise range, but the Hand2Note 4 HUD indicates that the Button player is very tight, with a VPIP of 17%, PFR of 10%, and 3-bet of 2.2%.

With this information, an open raise with A8o becomes profitable. Most likely, the Button will fold, and we will either win the blinds outright or play postflop in position with the initiative.

Button

The Button (BTN) is the most advantageous position at the table, granting absolute positional advantage on all streets. This position allows you to better control the hand and manage pot size.

On the Button, you’ll see all your opponents’ actions before making your move, enabling more accurate decision-making.

In addition, preflop, only the blinds remain to act, reducing the chance of facing a strong hand.

Thus, on the Button, you can open about half of all starting hands, including any hand with an ace, most suited hands except the weakest, and the best off-suit connected hands.

Standard Button Open-Raising Range

Let’s validate this range with Hand2Note 4 reports.

I selected only hands from the bottom of this range in the preflop matrix:

Then, I filtered the spot where I open-raised from the Button:

As seen, the Action Profit indicator is positive, with an open raise from these hands yielding an average of 0.15 bb per hand.

Small Blind

Opening from the Small Blind is a unique situation. Here, only the Big Blind opposes you, giving you an opportunity to play aggressively and try to take down the pot preflop.

That said, if the Big Blind calls, you’ll play postflop out of position, complicating your hand.

In blind battles, effectively adjusting to the Big Blind player’s tendencies and adapting your range is crucial.

Against resistant or unknown opponents, a tighter range similar to the Cutoff’s is best.

But if you notice that your opponent frequently gives up their big blind, you can employ the standard Button open-raise range or even expand it.

Everyone folds, and we are in the Small Blind with 52 offsuit. Obviously, this hand is weak and doesn’t fit into any standard raising range.

However, a dynamic HUD in Hand2Note 4 shows that the Big Blind folds to steal 79% of the time.

This frequency is high enough to make it mathematically profitable to attack this opponent with any two cards. So, we make a min-raise and take down the pot.

Mastering preflop raise ranges is a crucial step toward improving your game. By adjusting ranges for each position and considering opponents’ playing styles, you strengthen your strategy and increase your win rate over the long run.

With HandNote 4, you can easily identify your opponents’ playing styles, exploit their weaknesses, and create optimal open-raising ranges in any situation.