Poker Hand Notation Explained: AKs, AKo, 22+, ATs+
You open a poker chart, a training app, or a solver output, and it hits you like a wall of code: AKs, AKo, 22+, ATs+, KJo+. It looks like a secret language. It isn't. It is a simple shorthand, and once you can read it, every range chart and strategy article suddenly makes sense. This guide decodes all of it, piece by piece.
We will cover why hands get written this way, the s and o suffixes, the plus sign, the dashes, and the 13x13 grid that ties everything together. By the end you will read a line like “22+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+” at a glance and know exactly which hands it means. Notation is the alphabet of poker strategy. It is quick to learn, and it unlocks everything else.
Why Poker Hands Get Written as AKs, AKo, and 22+
Start with a number that surprises people. There are exactly 1,326 different two-card hands you can be dealt in Hold'em. Writing all of them out would be madness. So we use a shortcut, and it works because of one key fact: before the flop, suits are interchangeable. The ace and king of hearts play exactly the same as the ace and king of spades. Nothing about the strategy changes.
Once you group hands that play the same, those 1,326 combinations collapse into just 169 strategically distinct hands. That is a number you can actually work with. And those 169 hands split into three neat buckets:
- 13 pocket pairs: AA, KK, QQ, all the way down to 22.
- 78 suited hands: two different cards of the same suit, like AKs or T9s.
- 78 offsuit hands: two different cards of different suits, like AKo or T9o.
Add them up: 13 plus 78 plus 78 equals 169. That is the whole universe of starting hands. Notation exists so you can describe a chunk of that universe in a single line instead of listing twenty hands by hand.
The Suited (s) and Offsuit (o) Suffix, Decoded
This is the first and most important piece. The little letter after a two-card hand tells you the suits:
- s = suited. Both cards share a suit. AKs is the ace and king of the same suit.
- o = offsuit. The two cards are different suits. AKo is an ace and a king of different suits.
A couple of conventions come with this. The higher card is always written first, so it is AK, never KA. And a two-card hand written with no suffix at all means both versions at once. When a chart just says “AK,” it means AKs and AKo together.
The suffix is not just bookkeeping. It changes the count of how many ways you can be dealt the hand, which matters more than beginners expect:
- AKs = 4 combinations (one for each suit).
- AKo = 12 combinations.
- AK = 16 combinations (the 4 suited plus the 12 offsuit).
That is why offsuit hands show up three times as often as their suited twins, and it is why charts treat them differently. A suited hand can make flushes, so it is worth more. You will constantly see ranges that include AKs but not AKo, or that 3-bet AJs while only calling with AJo. The suffix is doing real work.
One more rule and it is a common trip-up: pocket pairs never get a suffix. A pair like QQ is two different suits by definition (you only hold one queen of each suit), so “QQs” is not a thing. Pairs are just written as the two ranks: AA, TT, 66. Each pair has 6 combinations.
Pocket Pairs and the Plus Sign: What 22+ and TT+ Really Mean
The plus sign is where a lot of people get lost, and it is genuinely simple once you hear the rule. The plus means “this hand and everything stronger.”
For pocket pairs, stronger means higher. So the plus walks up the ladder of pairs:
- 22+ means every pair from twos up: 22, 33, 44, 55, all the way to AA. That is all 13 pairs.
- TT+ means tens and higher: TT, JJ, QQ, KK, AA. Five pairs.
- QQ+ means QQ, KK, AA. Three pairs, the premium block.
So when a chart tells you to open “TT+,” it is not one hand, it is a shorthand for opening every pair from tens up. Read the plus as “and up” and pairs become easy.
Reading Range Shorthand: ATs+, A2s+, KJo+ and Dashes Like 55-88
Now the same plus sign on a non-pair. The logic is the same idea, “and stronger,” but here stronger has a direction: the top card stays fixed and the kicker climbs up toward it.
- ATs+ keeps the ace and moves the kicker up: ATs, AJs, AQs, AKs. Four hands, all suited.
- A2s+ is every suited ace: A2s, A3s, A4s, and so on up to AKs.
- KJo+ keeps the king and climbs the kicker: KJo, KQo. Two hands, offsuit.
Here is the mistake to avoid, and almost everyone makes it once. The plus always points up, never down. ATs+ does not mean ATs, A9s, A8s. It means ATs and the better suited aces above it. If you catch yourself sliding the kicker downward, stop and flip it. Up toward the top card, every time.
The last symbol is the dash, which marks a range between two hands. You see it most with pairs. 55-88 means 55, 66, 77, 88, the pairs from fives up to eights and nothing outside that band. It also shows up on runs of suited connectors, like 76s-54s for 76s, 65s, 54s, but the pair version is the one you will meet first.
The 13x13 Grid: Where Every Notation Lives
Every chart, tool, and solver draws hands on the same map: a 13 by 13 grid. Once you see it, notation stops being abstract and becomes a place on the board. The columns run A, K, Q, down to 2, and so do the rows. Three regions:
- The diagonal (top-left to bottom-right) is the pocket pairs: AA, KK, QQ, down to 22.
- The top-right triangle, above the diagonal, is every suited hand.
- The bottom-left triangle, below the diagonal, is every offsuit hand.
Suddenly the notation is spatial. “22+” is the whole diagonal. “A2s+” is the top row of suited aces. A tight range like QQ+ is just the top corner of the diagonal. Here is the full grid with each hand in its place.
Worked Examples: Turning a Chart Line Into Real Hands
Theory is nice, but the skill is reading a live line of shorthand and knowing the exact hands. Let's decode two.
Example 1, a typical opening range: “22+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+”. Break it into pieces:
- 22+ is all 13 pocket pairs.
- ATs+ is ATs, AJs, AQs, AKs.
- KQs is just that one hand, King-Queen suited.
- AJo+ is AJo, AQo, AKo.
That one short line describes 13 pairs plus a handful of big suited and offsuit aces plus KQs, maybe two dozen hands, in eleven characters. That is the power of the shorthand.
Example 2, a tight reraising range: “QQ+, AK, A5s-A2s”. This one:
- QQ+ is QQ, KK, AA.
- AK (no suffix) is both AKs and AKo.
- A5s-A2s is the suited wheel aces: A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s.
If that last group looks familiar, it should. Those suited wheel aces are the classic blocker bluffs we cover in the 4-bet guide, and being able to read the notation is what lets you see why a range is built that way. For a fuller tour of which hands belong in your opening ranges, our starting hands guide lays them out position by position.
See the Notation Come to Life
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How Notation Shows Up in the Range Visualizer and Charts
The reason this matters so much is that every tool you will ever use speaks this language. Our range visualizer is literally the 13x13 grid from above: you paint hands onto it, and it thinks in exactly this notation. Type or click A2s+ and it lights up the whole row of suited aces.
The same goes for the push or fold chart, which lists short-stack shoving ranges in this shorthand, and for the GTO feedback inside the app, which refers to hands the same way. Learn the notation once and you can read all of it. It is the single prerequisite that makes every other resource usable. If you want the strategy layer underneath the symbols, GTO poker for beginners is the natural next read, and poker positions explains why ranges change seat to seat.
Common Notation Mistakes New Players Make
A few small misreads cause most of the confusion. Knowing them in advance saves you from building the wrong range off a chart you read backwards.
- Thinking “AK” means only suited. With no suffix it means both, all 16 combos of AKs and AKo.
- Reading the plus sign downward. ATs+ climbs up to AKs, it does not slide down to A9s. The plus always points toward the top.
- Writing a pair with a suffix. There is no such thing as “AAs.” Pairs are never suited, so they carry no suffix.
- Assuming every hand is equally likely. An offsuit hand (12 combos) is three times as common as its suited version (4 combos), and pairs (6 combos) sit in between. This is exactly why blocker effects work.
- Confusing suited with connected. K2s is suited but nowhere near connected. 98o is connected but not suited. They are two different properties.
Quick-Reference Cheat Sheet
Bookmark this. Once these seven lines click, you can read any range chart in the game.
Common Questions About Poker Hand Notation
What does AKs mean in poker? AKs means Ace-King suited, both cards of the same suit. The s stands for suited. AKo means Ace-King offsuit, the two cards in different suits. Written alone as AK, it means both.
What is the difference between AKs and AKo? The suit, and the strength that comes with it. AKs is suited, can make flushes, and has only 4 combinations. AKo is offsuit and has 12 combinations. Charts often use AKs one way and AKo another because of that difference.
What does 22+ mean in poker? The plus means that pair and every stronger one. So 22+ is every pocket pair from twos up to aces. TT+ is TT, JJ, QQ, KK, AA.
What does ATs+ mean? It keeps the top card fixed (the ace) and moves the kicker up: ATs, AJs, AQs, AKs, all suited. The plus always points up, never down.
How many starting hands are there in poker? There are 1,326 exact combinations but only 169 strategically distinct hands, since suits are interchangeable preflop. Those 169 are 13 pairs, 78 suited hands, and 78 offsuit hands, which is exactly what the 13x13 grid shows.
Putting It Into Practice
Notation is the alphabet of poker. It looks intimidating for about five minutes, and then it disappears into the background and you just read hands. Suited is s, offsuit is o, no suffix means both, pairs stand alone, the plus climbs up, and the dash marks a band. That is the entire language.
The fastest way to lock it in is to use it. Open the range visualizer and build a range by typing a line like “22+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+,” then watch it paint the grid. Read a starting hands chart now that the symbols make sense. And when you drill spots in the app, you will read the hands without even thinking about it. The notation was never the hard part. It was just the door.
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