Starting Hand Chart: Printable Hold'em Hand Grid

Roughly 75% of Texas hold'em starting hands lose money over the long run if you play them from the wrong seat — which is exactly why a texas holdem chart earns a permanent spot next to your keyboard or your printer tray. You already know why position and hand groups matter; what you need now is the artefact itself: a clean, 13x13 texas holdem hands matrix you can glance at mid-hand without breaking your table flow. This page gives you that grid, plus a printable version and a quick read on how to use it.

The grid below covers every one of the 169 possible starting hands, organized the way most solvers and coaches teach it: pairs down the diagonal, suited hands above it, offsuit hands below. I've used this exact layout at the table for years, and it's the fastest way to check a marginal hand without losing focus on the action. If you'd rather study why each range is built this way, our starting hands strategy guide covers the reasoning in full — this page keeps things practical.

The Full Texas Holdem Hands Matrix

This texas holdem chart uses standard notation: suited hands end in 's' (AKs), offsuit hands end in 'o' (AKo), and pairs stand alone (AA, KK). Reading it takes about ten minutes to learn and a lifetime to fully absorb. Below is a middle-position opening range as a practical reference point — tighten it up front, loosen it on the button.

Sample Opening Range (Middle Position, 100bb)

A starting point only — tighten from early position, widen from the cutoff and button.

Poker Hand Rankings Texas Hold Em Starting Hands Chart: Quick Groups

Most players find it easier to memorize the chart in tiers rather than 169 individual cells. Premium pairs and big aces sit at the top, playable suited connectors and mid pairs sit in the middle, and everything else waits for a better spot or a late position. Here's the grouping I use when I'm teaching newer players their first texas holdem hand grid, and it's the same breakdown I go back to myself when a session gets long and focus starts to slip.

• Premium: AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo — raise from anywhere
• Strong: JJ, TT, AQs, AQo, KQs — raise from most positions
• Speculative: suited connectors (JTs, T9s), small-mid pairs — position-dependent
• Marginal: suited aces (A5s-A2s), offsuit broadways (KJo, QJo) — late position or defend only
• Fold zone: disconnected offsuit hands (Q4o, J3o) — muck from every seat except the big blind

Suited hands generally play about 2-3 percentage points stronger than their offsuit counterparts because of the added flush and straight-flush potential. That gap widens in multiway pots, where suited connectors realize more of their equity than offsuit high cards do.

How to Use the Grid at the Table

Print the chart, tape it beside your monitor, or keep it open on a second screen — whatever gets you a glance in under two seconds. In my experience, the players who lean on the chart heaviest in their first few months are also the ones who stop needing it soonest, because pattern recognition takes over once you've seen a few thousand hands. That said, a printed grid only tells you what to open preflop; it says nothing about pot odds, equity, or how a specific opponent plays back at you postflop. If you want a tool that goes further than a static reference and reads the live hand for you, that's a different category of product entirely, and it comes with real account-safety tradeoffs worth knowing about before you touch it.

For players who want structure without that risk, a HUD such as Hand2Note stays within the rules on rooms that allow tracking software, and a standalone chart like the one above costs nothing at all. Compare your options before deciding which risk profile fits your bankroll. For the canonical rule set, see hold ’em starting-hand theory.

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