RangeSharp
RangeSharp
The 13x13 hand matrix explained: suits, combos, colors, frequencies. Everything you need to read a poker range chart.
The first time you see a 13x13 poker range chart, it looks like a spreadsheet from another dimension. Rows and columns, colors, percentages. What does any of it mean?
This guide breaks it down from scratch. By the end, you'll know how to read a chart, what the colors represent, and how to use it at the table.
A deck has 13 ranks: A, K, Q, J, T, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The grid uses rows and columns. Convention: the row is the first card, the column is the second. So the cell at row A, column K is AK.
Order matters for non-pairs. AK and KA are the same hand, so the grid is usually symmetrical. Designers put the higher card on one axis and the lower on the other. Top-left is AA. Bottom-right is 72o (or 27o, same hand). The diagonal is pocket pairs: AA, KK, QQ, down to 22.
The grid has three regions for each rank combination.
Pairs: one cell. AA is a single square. So is 72. There are 6 combos of each pair (e.g. A♠A♥, A♠A♦, A♠A♣, A♥A♦, A♥A♣, A♦A♣).
Suited non-pairs: share a cell or sit in a suited triangle. A♠K♠, A♥K♥, etc. Four combos each.
Offsuit non-pairs: the other 12 combos. A♠K♥, A♥K♠, etc. Some charts split the cell in half (suited on one side, offsuit on the other). Others use color or pattern.
A full grid shows all 169 unique hand types. Each type has a specific combo count: 6 for pairs, 4 for suited, 12 for offsuit. Total combos: 1,326.
Colors encode actions. Red might mean raise. Blue might mean fold. Green could be call. Every chart has a legend. There's no universal standard, so check the key.
Some charts use a single color per action. Others use shades for frequency. A cell that's 75% raise and 25% call might be light red, or striped, or have a "75" in it. Always look at the legend first.
GTO doesn't always say "always raise" or "always fold." It mixes. A hand might raise 75% of the time and call 25%. That's a mixed strategy. The solver is indifferent between the two actions at that frequency.
When you see "75% raise / 25% call," it means: in theory, you should raise 3 out of 4 times and call 1 out of 4. In practice, you can simplify. Some players round to 100% of the dominant action. Others use a mental coin flip or RNG. The finer you go, the closer to GTO, but the harder to memorize.
Why does this matter? Because combo count affects how often a hand appears.
There are 6 ways to be dealt AA. There are 12 ways to be dealt AK offsuit. So you'll see AKo about twice as often as AA. When a chart says "fold AJo from UTG," you're folding 12 combos. When it says "fold 22 from UTG," you're folding 6. The grid makes this visual. Bigger regions (or more cells) for offsuit hands reflect that they show up more often.
The chart is a reference. At the table, you don't have it in front of you. The goal is to internalize it.
Start by learning the shape of the range. What does a UTG open look like? A blob in the top-left, thinning toward the bottom-right. What does a BTN open look like? Most of the grid except the bottom-right junk.
Then learn the edges. What's the worst hand that raises? What's the worst hand that calls? Those borders are where you'll make mistakes, so focus there.
Finally, practice. Flashcard style. See a hand, pick an action. Wrong? Look it up. Repeat. Tools like RangeSharp’s grid let you paint ranges, compare them, and train against them. The chart becomes something you can manipulate, not just stare at.
Treating the chart as gospel. Solver output assumes specific conditions: stack depth, rake, open size, opponent ranges. Change any of that and the chart changes. Use it as a baseline, not a religion.
Ignoring frequencies. If a hand is 60% raise and 40% fold, folding every time is a leak. You're giving up 40% of the value. Either randomize or pick one action and accept the small error. Don't pretend the mix doesn't exist.
Confusing suited and offsuit. A5s opens from UTG in most GTO solutions. A5o does not. One letter changes everything. Pay attention to the s and o.
Memorizing without understanding. If you know "KQo raises from the cutoff" but don't know why, you'll struggle when the situation changes. Understand that it has high card value, playability, and can dominate weaker broadways. The logic helps you adjust.
Using a chart from a different format. Tournament charts differ from cash. 6-max differs from 9-handed. Stack depth matters. Make sure the chart matches your game.
Not practicing the edges. The middle of a range is obvious. AA raises. 72o folds. The edges are where you leak. Is T9s a call or a raise from the BB vs a BTN open? What about J9o? Spend extra time on those. Drill them. Get them wrong, get corrected, repeat. The edges are where the money is.
Top-left quadrant: premium hands. AA, KK, QQ, AK. These cells are almost always "raise" or "3-bet" in any reasonable spot. Bottom-right: junk. 72o, 83o, 92o. These are almost always "fold." The interesting part is the middle. The border between playable and unplayable shifts with position and action. Learning where that border sits for each spot is most of the work.
Rows and columns: some grids put the high card on the row, low on the column. Others do the reverse. Some use a "suited/offsuit" split within each cell. Spend 30 seconds learning the layout before you use a new chart. It saves confusion.
Static charts are useful for reference. Interactive grids are better for learning. When you can click a cell and paint an action, or compare your range to GTO, or run a drill that flashes a hand and asks for your choice, you're engaging differently. Your brain builds associations. "This cell, this action." That's how recall works.
RangeSharp uses a canvas-rendered 13x13 grid. You paint actions, adjust frequencies, and see the full range in context. The grid supports overlays: actions, EV, frequency, heatmap, diff (vs another strategy). You can import from PioSolver, GTO Wizard, and other formats, then train against what you built. The chart stops being a picture and becomes something you manipulate. That distinction matters for retention.
When you import from a solver, you'll see cells with multiple actions. A hand might be 50% raise, 30% call, 20% fold. The solver is indifferent at those frequencies. In practice, you pick one action most of the time and accept the error, or you use a randomizer. Some training tools include an RNG bar for mixed spots: the bar tells you which action to take based on the frequency. That gets you closer to GTO without memorizing every decimal.
Rounding to 25% steps (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, 0%) is a common simplification. You lose a bit of EV. For most players, the memorization gain outweighs the loss. You can always refine later.
Different tools produce different outputs. PioSolver exports text that lists combos and frequencies. GTO Wizard uses a grid. Equilab and Flopzilla have their own formats. RangeSharp’s paste-to-import detects these automatically. You paste, it recognizes the format, and maps the actions onto the grid. That's useful when you want to train on solver output without manually translating.
Some charts use "combos" view: each cell shows a number (e.g., 4 for suited, 12 for offsuit). That helps with quick math. "If I fold this cell, I'm folding 12 combos." Other charts use pure color. Both work. Pick the one that matches how you think.
When you're comparing your strategy to GTO, the diff overlay is useful. It highlights where you deviate: cells you're playing that GTO folds, or folding that GTO plays. Those discrepancies are either leaks or intentional exploits. If you didn't mean to deviate, it's a leak. Fix it.
A range chart is a map. It tells you what hands to play and how. But the map isn't the territory. You still have to make decisions under pressure, with incomplete information, against humans who don't follow the chart.
Learn to read the chart. Train until the ranges stick. Then go play. The chart gets you 80% of the way. The rest is experience.
Master your preflop ranges.