Range Notation

Ranges describe sets of starting hands. They appear on the right-hand side of any player binding, on the board= binding, and inside functions like inRange and boardInRange.

Heads-up: Open PQL implements only the generic range syntax (variable-suit notation). The classic shorthand (AKs, AKo, 99+) used by some other tools is not yet implemented.

The grammar lives in the openpql-range-parser crate.

Concrete Cards

Use a rank (2-9 T J Q K A) followed by a concrete suit (s h d c) to fix a single card:

As           -- Ace of spades
AsKh         -- Ace of spades + King of hearts

A two-card hand for Hold’em or Short Deck is two such cards juxtaposed; an Omaha hand is four cards.

Suit Variables

Suits can be left abstract using suit variables w x y z. The same letter means the same (still-unspecified) suit, different letters mean different suits.

* may also stand in for an entire wildcard card — e.g. A* means “an Ace plus any card”.

Spans

A + extends the leading shape upward; a - between two shapes denotes an inclusive interval going downward from the larger to the smaller.

Lists

[a, b, c] is an alternation that fills one slot. Combine with another card for products:

[2,4,6,8,T]A     -- A2, A4, A6, A8, AT
A[2,3,4]         -- A2, A3, A4

You may also write [span] to embed a span literal, e.g. [QQ+].

Combining Many Atoms

Comma-separated terms in the same string union into a single range:

AA, KK, AwKw, 77-55

Boards

The board= binding accepts the same range syntax. A wholly concrete value ('Ah9s2c') pins the flop; a partial pattern leaves some cards generic:

board='Aw9x2y'   -- any rainbow flop with ranks A, 9, 2

Conflicts and Blockers

Combos that collide with already-known cards (other players’ holdings, the board, or dead cards) are excluded automatically during sampling. You don’t need to subtract blockers by hand.

Errors

A malformed range surfaces as a parse error at query evaluation time, with the offending span in the error report.