The meaning of a range
In Texas Hold’em, a preflop range is the set of starting hands a player may choose to play before the flop is dealt. Rather than focusing on just one hand, such as a pair of aces, the player considers several possible combinations and decides what to do with each. Possible actions include raising, calling a bet, or folding, depending on the situation.
In short, a range is a selection of hands for a particular situation before the flop—not a universal list that applies to every hand and every player. It helps organize recurring decisions and makes it easier to avoid choices that ignore the context.
Why position and circumstances matter
A range changes according to a player’s position and the actions that have already taken place. For example, the hands selected to open the action can differ from one position to another; they can also change when a player faces an opening raise or encounters a different preflop situation. That is why range charts often separate decisions by position and game format, such as 6-max or 9-max tables and tournaments.
Position matters because it affects the order of play and which players are still to act. A hand that may be opened from one position may not be a suitable choice from another. Stack size and format can also affect hand selection: strategies for deep, medium, and short stacks are not necessarily the same.
Using ranges without treating them as a script
Range charts are study references showing which hands to play in defined scenarios. They can help build a disciplined preflop strategy, but they must be read in the context they describe: position, previous action, format, and stack depth. A chart for a cash game, for instance, should not automatically be applied to a tournament.
Ranges can represent theoretically balanced strategies or adjustments aimed at real opponents. Either way, their purpose is to organize decisions, not to play every selected hand in the same way under all circumstances. Understanding a range means understanding which hands belong to a decision and why that selection changes from one scenario to another.