Free Preflop GTO Charts: What to Open From Every Seat (6-Max and 9-Max, 2026)

Most preflop mistakes are made before the flop comes out, and most of them are the same mistake: playing too many hands from the wrong seat. A preflop chart fixes that in one glance. Here is what the charts say, how to read one, and why the seat you are in matters more than the cards you were dealt.

What a preflop chart is

A preflop chart is a 13 by 13 grid of every starting hand in Texas Hold'em. Pairs run down the diagonal, suited hands sit above it, offsuit hands below. Each square is colored by what you should do with that hand in that spot: raise, call, move all-in, or fold.

The charts are built from solver output, the same "game theory optimal" (GTO) strategy serious players study. A real solver mixes actions (raise this hand 70% of the time, fold it 30%). A chart rounds each hand to one action so a human can actually use it. That is a simplification, and a good one: following a chart puts you ahead of most players at any casual table.

How much to play from each seat

The single biggest idea in preflop poker: the later you act, the more hands you can play. Here is what the PokerSweepStars charts open with, as a share of all starting hands, with 100 big blinds and nobody in the pot yet.

At a full 9-max table the early seats tighten a lot, because six or seven players still act behind you:

What those ranges look like

Under the gun, 6-max (17%). Every pair, every suited ace, K9s and better, Q9s and better, J9s and better, the suited connectors T9s, 98s, 87s and 76s, and offsuit AJ, AQ, AK and KQ. That is it. Everything else is a fold, including hands like KJ offsuit that feel too good to throw away.

Button (43%). Every pair, every suited ace and suited king, most suited queens and jacks, suited connectors and one-gappers down to 43s, every offsuit ace, K8 offsuit and better, Q9o, J9o and T9o. When you act last on every street, junk becomes playable.

Under the gun, 9-max (7%). Sixes and better, ATs and better, KQs, and AQ or AK offsuit. Fold the rest. If that feels tight, that is the point: at a full table, someone behind you has a real hand more often than not.

How to read the colors

• Green is raise. Nobody has entered the pot, so you open with a raise, never a call.
• Blue is call. Only appears on the charts where someone has already raised.
• Orange is all-in. Short-stack charts, where the only two moves are shove or fold.
• Dark is fold.

Tap any square in the app and it tells you in plain English: "Ace-Nine suited is a raise here" or "King-Ten offsuit is a fold here."

Using the charts without memorizing them

Nobody memorizes 13 charts. What works is looking at the right one at the right moment until the shape sinks in. PokerSweepStars puts a Charts button on every training screen. It opens the chart for the seat and stack you are in right now, so a hand at the practice table, a scenario, or a live drill is always one tap from the answer. When your stack drops to 20 big blinds or less it switches to the push/fold chart on its own.

After a few sessions you stop needing it for the button and start needing it only for the awkward middle seats. That is the goal.

The honest caveats

• These are 100 big blind, cash-style ranges. Tournaments with antes open a little wider; short stacks use different charts entirely.
• The charts assume a table of competent players. Against people who call everything, tighten up and value bet more. Against people who fold too much, open wider. GTO is the baseline, not the ceiling.
• The big blind has no "open" chart. Nobody raised means you check for free.

Where to find them

The full charts live at Training, then Preflop charts, in the PokerSweepStars app. They are free, they do not require a purchase, and the coach links to the matching chart whenever it talks about ranges. Get the app on the App Store or Google Play, or play in any desktop browser.