Poker Range Notation: How to Read Range Shorthand

Poker range notation is the compact shorthand players use to write down groups of hands — strings like AJs, AJo, 22+, and A5s+. Once you can read it, a coach’s range like “open 22+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+” stops looking like code and becomes a clear picture of exactly which hands to play. This guide decodes every symbol and shows how each string maps onto the 13x13 grid.

The building blocks

Every hand type is written one of three ways:

• Pairs — two matching ranks, no suit tag needed: AA, KK, 77, 22. A pair can’t be “suited,” so there’s nothing to add.
• Suited hands — two ranks plus s: AKs, T9s, 54s. Both cards share a suit.
• Offsuit hands — two ranks plus o: AKo, KQo, 72o. The cards are different suits.

Ranks use T for ten and the usual letters for the face cards: A K Q J T 9 8 … 2. The higher card is written first, so it’s AK, never KA.

The plus sign: “this and stronger”

The + symbol is the workhorse of notation. It means “include this hand and every stronger one within the same grouping.”

• Pairs: 22+ = every pocket pair, 22 through AA. TT+ = TT, JJ, QQ, KK, AA.
• Suited hands with a fixed top card: A5s+ keeps the ace fixed and walks the kicker up — A5s, A6s, A7s, A8s, A9s, ATs, AJs, AQs, AKs.
• Offsuit hands: KTo+ = KTo, KJo, KQo (ace-king offsuit isn’t a “king” hand, so it’s excluded here).

So + never crosses categories. A5s+ adds better suited aces, not better suited hands generally.

Ranges as dashes and lists

Two more conventions round it out:

• A dash gives a span: T9s-54s means the suited connectors T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s.
• Commas simply join separate chunks: 22+, A5s+, KQo is one range made of three pieces.

Put together, a full opening range might read: 22+, ATs+, KJs+, AQo+, KQs. That’s a compact, unambiguous description of a specific set of hands. For the concept behind why we group hands this way, see what a poker range is.

Notation to combinations

Notation isn’t just naming — it encodes exact combo counts, which drives all range math:

Notation	Type	Combos each	Example total
Single pair (AA)	Pair	6	6
Single suited (AKs)	Suited	4	4
Single offsuit (AKo)	Offsuit	12	12
AK (both)	Suited + offsuit	4 + 12	16

The 169 hand types cover 1,326 total combos: 13 pairs at 6 (78), 78 suited types at 4 (312), and 78 offsuit types at 12 (936). Notation lets you add these up fast — a range of 22+ is 13 × 6 = 78 combos before you add a single unpaired hand.

Seeing it on the grid

Every range maps to the standard 13x13 grid: pairs on the diagonal, suited hands above it, offsuit hands below. A range visualizer turns your notation into shaded cells so you can eyeball the shape instantly.

Type AA, KK, AKs and you get two dots on the diagonal plus one cell in the top-right suited corner. Type a full 22+, A2s+, K9s+, ATo+ and the shaded region hugs the top-left, exactly where the strongest hands live. Reading that picture is faster than parsing text — which is why the range chart is the format most solvers output.

A worked read

Decode this opening range: 77+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+.

• 77+ — pairs 77, 88, 99, TT, JJ, QQ, KK, AA. That’s 8 pairs × 6 = 48 combos.
• ATs+ — ATs, AJs, AQs, AKs (ace fixed, kicker climbing). 4 hands × 4 = 16 combos.
• KQs — a single suited hand. 4 combos.
• AJo+ — AJo, AQo, AKo. 3 hands × 12 = 36 combos.

Total: 48 + 16 + 4 + 36 = 104 combos, about 8% of all starting hands — a tight, early-position-style open. You read the whole range and sized it without seeing a single chart.

Common notation mistakes

• Assuming + crosses categories. A5s+ means better suited aces, not “A5s and any better suited hand.”
• Reversing rank order. It’s always high card first: KQ, not QK.
• Forgetting pairs have no suit tag. 99s is wrong — a pair is just 99.
• Confusing AK with AKs. Plain AK means both the suited and offsuit versions (16 combos); AKs is suited only (4).

Wrapping up

Poker range notation is a tight language: ranks high-first, s or o for suit, + for “this and stronger within the category,” dashes for spans, commas to join. Learn to read it and every chart, coaching note, and solver output opens up. Pair it with range basics, practice turning strings into grids with the chart guide, and check the combo math against the odds and math hub. It all ties back into the wider preflop strategy framework.