At a glance
- On the HUD
- RFI
- Formula
open-raises / times everyone before them folded- Typical range
18–45%
- Where it shows
- Badge, unopened pot: players still to act, from their seat. Facing an open: the opener, from the seat they opened.
- Read hint
- Above: Wide opener: 3-bet and defend wider. Below: Narrow opener: their opens are strong.
- Trust it after
- 12 chances. Below that the number is faded; reads need 12 chances and a number at least one standard error outside the typical range.
What it measures
RFI isolates one spot: nobody has raised or limped, and it’s the player’s turn. They can raise, limp or fold, and RFI is how many of those spots they raised. It’s the closest thing the HUD has to a player’s opening range.
It reads opens more cleanly than PFR, which mixes in 3-bets and raises over limpers and divides by every hand, including the many where someone else opened first. At a limp-heavy table a player may get few unopened pots, and RFI shows what they do with the ones they get.
Two stats share its chances. Open limp counts the limps in the same spots, so RFI, open limp and folding first in always add up to 100%. Steal attempt is RFI limited to the cutoff, button and small blind.
How it’s calculated
- A chance: the player’s first preflop decision with no raise and no limper in front, meaning everyone before them folded.
- Counts: if that decision was a raise, of any size. An open limp in the same spot is a chance without an RFI (it counts toward open limp instead), and so is a fold.
- The blinds: the small blind gets a chance when it’s folded to. The big blind never does: if everyone folds to it, the hand is over.
- Not a chance: a spot with a limper in front (that’s an iso-raise chance) or a raise in front.
The formula is open-raises ÷ times everyone before them folded. It’s kept by seat, so a player’s button range and early-position range are separate numbers.
Example: over a session, it folds to Leo 20 times in early position, 9 times in the cutoff and 6 times on the button. He opens 3, 4 and 5 of them: 15% early (3 ÷ 20), 44% in the cutoff (4 ÷ 9) and 83% on the button (5 ÷ 6). Across those seats his RFI is 12 ÷ 35 = 34%. Notice where the chances come from. The first seat to act gets one every hand, while the button gets one only when everyone in front folds, so the overall number leans on early seats, and more so at tables where people limp.
Why it matters
An opening range is the starting point for every decision against an open: fold, call or 3-bet. Against a player opening most buttons, hands like K9s, Q9s and A5s are comfortable defends from the blinds; against one opening a narrow range there, the same hands are folds.
RFI also shows whether a player’s opens make sense with their size. Every open is in part a wager that the whole table folds. The blinds hold 1.5 bb, and an open to 2.5 bb stakes 2.5 to collect them, so it shows an instant profit when everyone behind folds more than 2.5 ÷ 4 = 62.5% of the time together. PokerNow games often open bigger, and a 4 bb open needs 4 ÷ 5.5 = 72.7%. A player who opens wide and big pays a lot for every open that gets called or raised, so read their open size next to their RFI.
Seat by seat, RFI tells you who opens on autopilot. A strong player’s number climbs steeply from early position to the button. A flat line means they ignore position. Their early-position opens are weaker than they should be, so 3-bet those lighter, while their button opens are stronger than most.
Too low, about right, too high
Too low: under 18%
What it says
Under 18% overall, the player opens only strong hands, even from late position, and the HUD’s read says it plainly: “Narrow opener: their opens are strong.” From early position that can be fine; overall it means they pass up easy steals in the cutoff and on the button. Many PokerNow players land here by limping instead of raising, so check their open limp before deciding they’re tight.
How to exploit it
- Fold more against their opens. Give up KJo, QJs and the small pairs when you’d be out of position, and keep your 3-bets mostly to QQ+ and AK.
- Call in position with pairs and suited hands that can flop big, rather than 3-bet bluffing a range that won’t fold.
- When they sit behind you in late position, open wider, as long as their 3-bet is low too.
- If the low RFI comes with a high open limp, they aren’t tight, just passive: raise their limps instead.
About right: 18–45%
What it says
Most opening strategies land here overall, and the overall number hides the part that matters: the seat. A player at 30% overall could open 15% in early position and most buttons, or 30% from everywhere. The by-seat number on the opener’s badge is the one to use.
How to exploit it
- Defend and 3-bet based on the opener’s seat number. Against a button opening half the time, defend the big blind with most suited hands and offsuit broadways and 3-bet hands like A5s and KTs; against a much tighter button, tighten up.
- Look at what happens after the open. A fold to 3-bet over 65% makes light 3-bets pay more, whatever their RFI; under 40%, 3-bet only for value.
Too high: over 45%
What it says
Over 45% overall, the player opens almost every unopened pot, including from early seats. The read: “Wide opener: 3-bet and defend wider.” Their range is full of hands that can’t handle a 3-bet, such as offsuit kings, weak aces and suited gappers. At PokerNow tables you often see this from a player who has learned that raising beats limping, but not yet that position matters.
How to exploit it
- 3-bet them wider, especially in position. Hands like AJo, KQo, A5s and pairs from 77 up are well ahead of a range this wide.
- Defend the big blind wider against their opens, and call more in position with suited hands and pairs.
- Size your 3-bets so their weak opens face a real price, a little bigger out of position than in position.
- Check their fold to 3-bet. If it’s high, 3-bet bluff with suited aces and kings; if it’s low, 3-bet for value and expect to play big pots with strong hands.
When it’s your own number
If your RFI is under 18%, observant players fold more against your opens, so your strong hands get paid less. If it’s over 45%, they 3-bet and defend wider against you. Your own badge flags either one as a read.
Seat by seat is the way to check yours. It should rise steeply from early position to the button, with the small blind depending on how often you raise rather than limp against the big blind. If one seat is out of line, fix that seat’s range instead of the overall number.
Using it on the HUD
PokerNow HUD Advanced shows RFI on badges before anyone opens: each player still to act outside the blinds shows their RFI from their seat, next to their 3-bet from that seat (the blinds show fold to steal instead). Once someone opens, the opener’s badge shows RFI from the seat they opened, with fold to 3-bet, 4-bet and open size. It turns gold above 45% and blue under 18%, and fades under 12 chances. When a seat number rests on fewer than 12 chances, the badge falls back to their overall RFI, and the tooltip tells you which version you’re looking at.
Seat numbers fill slowly. A player gets at most one button chance per orbit, and only when everyone in front folds, so 12 button chances take at least 72 hands six-handed (12 × 6) and 108 nine-handed (12 × 9), usually more. Even at 30 chances, a 50% number is ±9 points. On your turn when you can open, the panel multiplies the players’ fold rates into the chance that everyone folds; compare it with the 62.5% a 2.5 bb open needs.
Questions
What is a good RFI percentage?
The HUD treats 18–45% as typical overall, but RFI is really a seat-by-seat stat. A solid opener’s number rises steeply from early position to the button, so their overall figure moves with the number of players at the table and how often the action folds to them. Judge a player by the seat they’re opening from, which is the number the opener’s badge shows.
What’s the difference between RFI and VPIP?
VPIP counts every hand where a player calls or raises, out of every hand with a preflop decision. RFI only looks at unopened pots, where everyone before them folded, and counts raises. A player can have a modest VPIP and a high RFI if they rarely call raises but open aggressively whenever it folds to them.
Why is RFI higher on the button than under the gun?
Fewer players are left to act. Under the gun an open has to get through everyone at the table, and any of them can wake up with a strong hand. On the button only the blinds are left, and you’ll have position after the flop. That’s why a good player’s button RFI is much higher than their early-position number.
Does an open limp count as raise first in?
No. An open limp is a chance without an RFI and counts toward open limp instead. The two stats share the same chances, and every one of those chances ends in a raise, a limp or a fold. Reading them together is the quickest way to see whether a player enters pots by raising or by limping.