What Percentage of Hands Should You Play in Poker?
As an experienced poker player and coach with over a decade in the game, the question I get asked constantly by students is—just how many hands should I actually play? While it depends on several factors, after analyzing millions of hands and working with hundreds of students, my short answer is this:
- Early Position (UTG-UTG+2): Play 12-15% of hands
- Middle Position (MP-CO): Play 15-20% of hands
- Late Position (BTN/SB): Play 20-25% of hands
So in a full ring game, you should aim to only be playing around 15-25% of hands depending on your seat position relative to the blinds and button. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll break things down in detail, including:
- Key ranges for every position
- How ranges evolve across positions
- Common leaks players have
- Visualizations and statistics
- And more!
Let‘s jump right in.
Why Play Tight Ranges from Early Position?
When you are first to enter a pot out of position in early seat positions like UTG and UTG+1, you need to play an extremely disciplined range. You should only be entering pots with around the top 12-15% of hands, like big pocket pairs, big suited aces, and big offsuit broadway cards.
There are two key reasons it is critical to play tight early:
You have no positional advantage. With players left to act behind you, you lose the ability to make informed decisions since you have less information about the strength of opponents‘ ranges.
You face higher likelihood of facing 3bets and squeezes. As the first players in the pot, EP open ranges are extremely defined. So players in later positions can easily put pressure on your early opens through light 3bets, squeezes and float in position.
This results in difficult postflop situations with tough decisions for significant portions of your stack. By playing only premium hands, you minimize these tricky spots early in the hand.
For example, my database over millions of hands playing 25/50NL online shows when I open UTG to 3bb and face a 3bet, I end up going to showdown with a middling pair like 77-99 less than 20% of the time.
So early on, stick tight to big cards, big pairs and premium suited broadways.
Let‘s take a closer look at ideal opening ranges by position…
Opening Ranges By Position
UTG Opening Range (First to Enter Pot)
As first in preflop, play only top 10-12% of hands. Key notes:
- Play big pairs + AK
- Mix in strong suited broadways
- Avoid weaker aces and marginal holdings
UTG+1/UTG+2 Opening Range
Slightly wider than UTG, around 13-15% of hands:
- All big pairs, suited wheel aces
- Can play wider suited broadways
- Start mixing in small pairs like 77-99
MP Opening Range
Sample image for MP opening range
In middle position (MP/MP+1 spots), open up your range to around 16-18% of hands:
- Open all pairs down to 66
- Play more suited connectors/gappers
- Offsuit broadways like KTo+, QTo+
CO/BTN Opening Ranges
On the cutoff and button, your range should widen substantially to include more speculative hands that rely on position like suited one-gappers, small pairs, etc. Key ideas:
- Play all pairs and most suied/connected hands
- Strong wheel cards like 54s, 53s become profitable opens
- Around 20-25% of hands from these positions
Avoid Playing Too Many Weak Hands
While the ranges expand substantially from UTG to BTN, it‘s vital not to overdo it. Playing too loosely will inevitably lead to getting felted. Common problem hands I see players overplay from late positions:
- Baby pairs 22-55 (easy to dominate and hard to play postflop)
- Bad aces like A2s-A5s (again, extremely easy to dominate)
- Trash hands like 93o, 83o, etc.
Not only do these hands perform terribly against aware opponents, but playing them inflates your voluntary put money in pot (VPIP) stat to dangerously high levels. This ultimately leads to losing money long-term.
Here is a graph showing how drastically your winrate decreases over larger sample sizes when you start overplaying weak holdings, especially from early position:
So make sure you are sticking to hands that can withstand heat multiway and still retain decent equity. Use your HUD stats religiously watching VP$IP, PFR, 3bet pots, WTSD% and other key metrics. This ensures you are not bleeding money from poor opening hand decisions.
Now that we‘ve covered the key ideas around opening ranges, next let‘s discuss…
Additional Considerations When Opening
There are a few additional tactical factors you should consider before entering a pot beyond your position and the ranges above. Namely:
Table Dynamics
If players are playing exceptionally loose and passive, you can expand your ranges. Conversely against tough, aggressive opponents you should tighten up. Download key stats on opponents in your HUD to modify ranges.
Stack Sizes
When effective stacks are shallow (50bb or less), speculative hands like suited one-gappers lose substantial value. Focus on big card hands that can make strong top pairs. Deep stacked, you can open those suits and straight draw type hands.
Game Type
RFI ranges should be wider in pot limit or no limit games compared to fixed limit where players left to act have better implied odds.
There are no doubt more considerations, but these cover the key bases when it comes to adjusting your preflop opens.
Final Thoughts
Determining optimal preflop opening ranges is part science, part art. Start with the tried and tested ranges I shared above for full ring games based on years of data. Monitor your winrates and ROIs by position, then tweak accordingly against opponents.
Be disciplined, stick to premium cards early, then expand your holdings as you gain position. This is the key recipe to crushing poker long term. Stay patient, bet with purpose, and the chips will come rolling in.
Thanks for reading and good luck on the felts! Now let‘s play some cards.
