UTG sits directly after the big blind and acts first preflop, blind to the entire table behind. Its opening range must therefore be the tightest and strongest at the table.
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At a nine-handed table the action starts with the seat immediately left of the big blind. That seat is Under The Gun (UTG): it opens before eight other players have said a word, and every one of them still has the option to 3-bet, cold-call or squeeze. Because UTG will also be out of position against the button, the cutoff and both blinds for the rest of the hand, every marginal hand it opens turns into a hand played from the wrong side of the table.
Open tight and open strong. A solid nine-handed UTG range is roughly the top 9–12% of hands: pairs down to 77, AQ and AK, AJs/ATs, KQs and the better suited connectors. Raise rather than limp, because limping invites the whole table in and destroys the one advantage a strong range has. Six-handed you can widen to about 16–18%, since only five players act behind you. When someone 3-bets your UTG open, continue with a narrow value range and fold the suited-gapper part of your opening range — being first to act on every street is worth real money and you are paying it.
The classic leak is treating UTG like the button because the hand "looks pretty". KJo, A9o and small suited gappers all show a loss from UTG at almost every stake, not because the cards are bad but because you will face postflop decisions blind. The second leak is limping UTG with a big pair to trap: it caps your range, builds no pot, and gives four opponents a cheap flop against your best holding.
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