Why are some cells on a push/fold chart only partly filled in?

Those hands are mixed - the solver shoves them some fraction of the time and folds the rest, neither action is strictly better. This means that at equilibrium, the EV of both actions is the same (i.e. 0). These are the hands to think about when considering tells or tendencies that your opponents have. Mixed cells cluster right at the edge of a range; anything solidly inside or outside it is one clean color.

How is a 13×13 poker hand chart arranged?

Thirteen ranks give thirteen rows and columns. The diagonal from top-left (AA) to bottom-right (22) is every pocket pair, everything above it is the suited version of those two ranks, and everything below is the offsuit version. AKs and AKo are therefore mirror images across the pair diagonal - the same distance from AA, on opposite sides of it.

What do the colors on a push/fold chart mean?

Violet means shove, black means fold. Most cells are one or the other at full frequency. The partly filled ones are hands the solver mixes (These hands are Indifferent, with both actions being worth 0 EV). Hovering or tapping any cell gives the exact percentage rather than making you estimate it from the fill.

Guides / Foundations / How to Read a Push/Fold Chart

How to Read a Push/Fold Chart

Published 15 August 2026Updated 28 October 2026How these ranges are solved

Every chart on this site is the same 169-cell grid: one cell for every distinct starting hand in hold'em. Once you know how the grid is arranged and what a cell's color means, every chart for every position, depth, and table size reads the same way.

How is the 13×13 grid laid out?

Hold'em has 13 ranks, so the grid is 13 columns by 13 rows. The diagonal running from the top-left (AA) to the bottom-right (22) is every pocket pair. Above the diagonal is every suited combo - AKs sits right next to AA, the closest suited hand to the top pair. Below the diagonal is the same two ranks offsuit - AKo is the mirror image of AKs across the pair diagonal. So AKs and AKo are always the same distance from AA, just on opposite sides of it.

What do the colors mean?

Violet means shove, near-black means fold. Most cells are one or the other at full frequency - a hand the solver shoves 100% of the time, or folds 100% of the time. But some hands are genuinely mixed: the solver shoves them some fraction of the time and folds the rest, because at that exact frequency neither action is strictly better. Those cells get a hard-edge split fill instead of a blended color - if a hand shoves 34% of the time, 34% of the cell is filled violet and the rest stays fold-colored, with a clean line between them rather than a muddy in-between shade. Hover (or tap, if you're using a screen reader) any cell for the exact percentage.

A worked example

Below is the button's actual solved opening range at 10bb effective. Find Q5s - five columns to the right of the pair diagonal, in the suited half above it. It shoves 51% of the time and folds the other 49%, so 51% of that cell is filled violet. That's not a rounding artifact: it's the solver telling you this hand is genuinely on the knife's edge at this exact stack depth, close enough that mixing between shove and fold beats committing fully to either one.

Exact mixed frequencies (29)

K3s 97% shove / 3% fold,K2s 94% shove / 6% fold,Q7s 96% shove / 4% fold,Q6s 96% shove / 4% fold,Q5s 51% shove / 49% fold,Q4s 8% shove / 92% fold,Q3s 3% shove / 97% fold,J7s 96% shove / 4% fold,J6s 6% shove / 94% fold,J5s 2% shove / 98% fold,T7s 98% shove / 2% fold,T6s 10% shove / 90% fold,Q9o 67% shove / 33% fold,J9o 42% shove / 58% fold,T9o 89% shove / 11% fold,96s 88% shove / 12% fold,95s 1% shove / 99% fold,K8o 89% shove / 11% fold,T8o 2% shove / 98% fold,98o 3% shove / 97% fold,86s 98% shove / 2% fold,85s 8% shove / 92% fold,K7o 10% shove / 90% fold,75s 72% shove / 28% fold,K6o 5% shove / 95% fold,65s 96% shove / 4% fold,64s 3% shove / 97% fold,54s 69% shove / 31% fold,53s 1% shove / 99% fold

ShoveFoldYour hand

Most hands you'll look up won't be this close. The mixed cells are the exception, clustered right at the edge of a range - everything solidly inside or outside the shoving range is a clean, full-frequency color.

Does it matter if the chart is 6-max or 9-max?

Yes - check the table size before you use a chart. A 9-max table has three more players behind the early seats, so those seats need a stronger hand. At 10bb, UTG shoves about 22% of hands in 6-max but only about 16% in 9-max. The Button barely changes (about 39% against 40%), because it has the same two blinds behind it either way. Every chart in the chart library says its table size, stack depth and seat in the title.

Now that you can read a chart, browse the full library or drill it hand-by-hand and find out how your instincts compare to the solve.

Browse every solved range →Practice free →

Common questions

Why are some cells on a push/fold chart only partly filled in?: Those hands are mixed - the solver shoves them some fraction of the time and folds the rest, neither action is strictly better. This means that at equilibrium, the EV of both actions is the same (i.e. 0). These are the hands to think about when considering tells or tendencies that your opponents have. Mixed cells cluster right at the edge of a range; anything solidly inside or outside it is one clean color.
How is a 13×13 poker hand chart arranged?: Thirteen ranks give thirteen rows and columns. The diagonal from top-left (AA) to bottom-right (22) is every pocket pair, everything above it is the suited version of those two ranks, and everything below is the offsuit version. AKs and AKo are therefore mirror images across the pair diagonal - the same distance from AA, on opposite sides of it.
What do the colors on a push/fold chart mean?: Violet means shove, black means fold. Most cells are one or the other at full frequency. The partly filled ones are hands the solver mixes (These hands are Indifferent, with both actions being worth 0 EV). Hovering or tapping any cell gives the exact percentage rather than making you estimate it from the fill.

Sources and assumptions

Texas hold 'em starting hands (Wikipedia) - The 169 distinct starting hands and the 1,326 two-card combinations behind them.
Chen & Ankenman, The Mathematics of Poker (ConJelCo, 2006) - Includes the classic jam-or-fold analysis of short-stack play.

The solved numbers on this page

Chip-EV shove/fold solves, 6-max unless a figure says 9-max.
0.125bb ante per player (not a big-blind ante). Stacks are counted before blinds and antes are posted.
Percentages are shares of all 1,326 starting combos, rounded to the nearest whole number.
Only shove and fold are modelled. Limps, min-raises and postflop play are not.

How these ranges are solved

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