Preflop Range Chart for Cash Games: Full Guide

A preflop range chart for cash games is built on one core assumption that tournament charts drop: you’re 100 big blinds deep with no antes. That single difference makes cash ranges tighter, kills the push/fold zone, and changes which hands are worth playing. This guide gives you position-by-position cash opening ranges and shows exactly why they look the way they do.

What makes a chart a “cash” chart

Two structural facts define cash-game preflop play:

• You’re deep (typically 100bb). With deep stacks, postflop playability matters enormously. Suited connectors and small pairs gain value because you can win a big pot when they hit, and implied odds are strong.
• There are no antes. In tournaments, antes add dead money to every pot, which rewards stealing and justifies wider opens. Cash pots have only the two blinds, so the reward for opening is smaller and ranges tighten accordingly.

Because stacks stay deep and reload after every hand, there’s no short-stack push/fold zone the way there is late in a tournament. Every open is a raise, not a shove.

Cash-game opening ranges by position (6-max, 100bb)

Here’s a solid 6-max baseline. Percentages are the share of the 169 starting hands you open:

Position	Open %	Range shape
Under the gun (UTG)	~15%	2-2+, A-J suited+, A-Q offsuit+, K-Q suited, suited broadways
Middle / lojack	~18%	Adds A-10s, K-J suited, Q-J suited, more suited connectors
Cutoff	~26%	Adds most suited aces, K-10s, small pairs, 8-7s down to 5-4s
Button	~45%	Very wide: any pair, most suited hands, many offsuit broadways and aces
Small blind	~40%	Wide but 3-bet-heavy; only the big blind is left to act

The pattern is universal: the later you sit, the wider you open, because fewer players remain behind who can wake up with a hand. The button, with only the two blinds behind, opens nearly half its hands. For the full derivation of these ranges, see our preflop opening ranges guide.

Why deep stacks favor suited and connected hands

In a cash game, a hand like 6♠ 5♠ is worth opening from late position even though it’s rarely the best hand preflop. The reason is implied odds: when you flop a straight or flush, deep stacks let you stack an opponent for 100bb. Offsuit junk like K7o can’t do that — it makes weak top pairs that win small pots and lose big ones.

This is why cash charts lean into suited hands and small pairs from middle and late position. The 6 / 4 / 12 combo math tells the story: each suited hand is only 4 combos, but those 4 combos carry outsized upside deep, so they earn their spot in the range before their 12-combo offsuit cousins.

Cash charts vs tournament charts

The same 13x13 grid gets shaded differently for each format:

• Cash (100bb, no antes): tighter opens, flat-calling is viable, no shove ranges.
• Tournament (variable stacks, antes): wider opens because antes reward stealing, and a push/fold zone appears once stacks drop under about 20bb.

If you pull up a chart labeled for tournaments and use it in a cash game, you’ll open too wide and bleed chips out of position. Match the chart to the format. When stacks in your cash game drop off the 100bb baseline, tighten up and shift toward 3-bet-or-fold, the way you would in the transition explained in our poker positions framework.

A worked cash-game spot

You’re in the cutoff of a 100bb 6-max cash game with A♠ 10♠. Two players fold to you. What’s the play?

• This is a suited ace with straight and flush potential, comfortably inside a ~26% cutoff range.
• Open to about 2.5bb. You’re deep, so A-10 suited can flop the nut flush, top pair with a strong kicker, or Broadway straight draws — exactly the kind of playability deep stacks reward.
• If the button 3-bets, you’re deep enough to flat and see a flop in position, though against a tight 3-bettor a fold is fine.

Now move that same A♠ 10♠ to under the gun. In a ~15% opening range it’s borderline — many cash charts still include A-10 suited UTG, but it’s near the bottom of the range, and against a tough table you can fold it. Same hand, different seat, different decision — that’s the chart doing its job.

6-max vs full-ring cash

Most online cash is 6-max, but live rooms often spread 9-handed full-ring. The difference:

• Full-ring adds early seats. Under the gun at a 9-handed table has 8 players behind, so it opens even tighter than 6-max UTG — often 12% or less.
• 6-max compresses the ranges; every seat is effectively “later” than its full-ring counterpart.

Don’t reuse a 6-max chart at a full-ring table for the early seats — you’ll open too loose into more opponents. Pick the chart that matches your table size.

Common cash-chart mistakes

• Using tournament ranges in a cash game. Too wide, and you’ll misjudge shove spots that don’t exist deep.
• Opening the same range from every seat. Position is the biggest dial on a cash chart.
• Flatting too much in the blinds. Out of position, prefer 3-bet-or-fold with many hands rather than cold-calling.
• Ignoring stack depth. A 100bb chart doesn’t apply at 40bb — tighten and simplify when short.

Bringing it together

A cash-game preflop chart is a position-by-position map built for 100bb, ante-free play: tighter than tournament charts, rich in suited and connected hands from late seats, and free of any push/fold zone. Match the chart to your table size and stack depth, open wider as you move toward the button, and lean on playability when deep. Pair this with the broader cash game strategy hub and the full preflop strategy framework to round out your preflop game.