A 3-bet does one of three jobs: it wins the pot now, it builds a pot with a hand that wants money in, or it isolates a weak player. Which job it is doing decides which hands belong in the range, and that is the part most players skip.
Get it wrong and you end up 3-betting suited wheel aces against someone who calls with everything, the most common preflop leak below mid stakes.
Linear or polarised: the only question that matters
A linear range is your strongest hands, extended downward: big pairs, then medium pairs, then strong broadways, then the next tier. Every hand in it is good on its own.
A polarised range is the top of your range plus hands with little showdown value that flop well, suited wheel aces and suited connectors, with the merged middle left out to call instead.
The choice is not stylistic. It follows from what the opener does facing a 3-bet:
- They fold too much, polarised. Your bluffs are printing, and your medium hands are better off calling and playing a pot in position.
- They call too much, linear. Bluffs stop working because nothing folds, so every hand in your range should want to be called.
- They 4-bet aggressively, polarised and tighter. Merged hands hate facing a 4-bet; nutted hands and cheap bluffs handle it.
Nearly every recreational pool falls into the second category. That is why the default in club apps and micro stakes is a linear range, and why importing a polarised chart from a tough regular's training video costs money.
Building the range by position
Against a late-position opener who is raising 25% or wider, a linear 3-betting range from the button looks roughly like 99+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+, widening toward 77+ and ATs/KJs as their opening range widens. In position you can afford the extra hands because you realise your equity better.
Out of the blinds it is harsher. You are out of position for the whole hand, so the merged hands that look tempting, AJo, KQo and small pairs, perform badly against a caller. From the small blind, tighten toward the top of the linear range and size up. From the big blind, 3-bet less and defend by calling more, since you already have a price. Against an early-position opener everything tightens further: a UTG raiser has a strong range even in a loose low-stakes pool.
Sizing, and what each size buys
In position, around 3x the open, roughly 7.5bb over a 2.5bb open. Out of position go larger, around 4x, to charge the caller for the positional advantage they hold for the rest of the hand.
Add a big blind for each cold-caller already in. A 3-bet that would be 7.5bb heads-up should be closer to 10bb with one caller in between, since you are folding out two players rather than one.
Against a pool that calls too much, size up, not down. A smaller 3-bet does not generate extra folds from a player who was never folding; it just builds a smaller pot with a hand that wanted a bigger one. This is the same principle that governs value betting against calling stations, applied one street earlier.
The light 3-bet, and when it is actually light
"Light 3-betting", meaning 3-betting hands that are not strong enough to want a call, only works where fold equity exists. That means late position against a regular, or against a player whose opening range is so wide that most of it cannot continue.
When you do it, choose bluffs with blockers and playability, not random junk. A hand like A5s is the textbook choice for a reason: the ace blocks a portion of the hands that would 4-bet you, and when called, the hand flops straights, flushes and pairs often enough to keep playing.
What does not work is 3-betting light into a loose caller and giving up on the flop. If they call 3-bets with 40% of their range, your A5s folds nothing out and sits in a bloated pot out of position with ace-high, the exact damage a polarised chart does when applied to the wrong opponent.
A worked hand
NL50 in Allin Zone on ClubGG, 6-max, blinds 0.25/0.50 with a 0.25 ante from every seat, table full. The antes put 3 big blinds in the middle before a card is dealt, and the table has a 30 percent VPIP floor, so nobody at it is allowed to be tight. The cutoff, 100bb effective, opens to 3bb. We are on the button with AdJd.
3-bet to 11bb. That is larger than the 8bb we would use at a table without antes, for two reasons. The dead money is bigger, so the pot we are fighting for is bigger. And a player who has to keep his VPIP above 30 percent is not folding a cutoff open to a 3-bet very often, which means we are building a pot with a hand that is ahead of his range rather than trying to make him fold.
He calls. Flop Jc 7h 3s, he checks, we bet 60 percent of a pot that is already 25bb. Any jack, any seven and every pocket pair continues in this pool. Turn 2c, check, bet 65 percent. River 9s, check, bet 60 percent again and get called by J9 or a smaller jack.
What this looks like in our clubs
Every cash table in our Allin Zone union on ClubGG carries a minimum VPIP: 30 percent at NL10 and NL50, 25 percent at NL200 and NL400. A player who folds too much is removed from the table. Opening ranges are wide by construction and calling ranges are wide because folding costs the seat, so a 3-bet made to win the pot preflop is fighting the table rules. A 3-bet made to build a pot with the better hand is working with them.
Two more things change the sizing. The NL50 tables run a 0.25 ante on top of the blinds, so 3-bet at least a big blind larger than you would without it. And stack depths at one table range from 13bb to over 200bb at the same time, because the union lets people buy in short and deep players stay.
Frequently asked questions
What hands should I 3-bet with?
It depends on who opened. Against a loose caller, use a linear range: your strongest hands widened downward, all of which want to be called. Against a player who folds a lot, use a polarised range and add suited-wheel-ace bluffs. There is no single correct 3-betting range independent of the opponent.
How big should a 3-bet be?
Roughly 3x the open in position and 4x out of position, plus about one big blind for each cold-caller already in the pot. Against pools that call too often, size toward the upper end, because the extra chips are the point.
Should I 3-bet small pairs?
Usually not as a 3-bet against a caller. Small pairs want to see a cheap flop and hit a set, which is a calling proposition, not a raising one. They become 3-bets when there is real fold equity, and even then only from late position.
What do I do when I get 4-bet?
Against most recreational players, a 4-bet is the top of their range, and folding everything except your strongest hands is correct. Against a regular who 4-bets as a bluff, you can continue with hands that block their value range. Note which type you are facing before deciding.
Is 3-betting different in club apps?
The principle is identical, the inputs differ. Club-app pools call more, so linear ranges and larger sizes are the right defaults. Straddled and shallower tables are also common, which shifts the range toward hands with good flop equity.
Where to start
Before your next session, pick one opponent type and commit to one range against them. Against the loose caller: linear, larger, no bluffs. That single change fixes more preflop money than any chart download.
If you want to know which of our fields calls widest, and it is not the one most players assume, message @rpunion. You can also compare the apps we hold unions in, since the correct adjustment differs between them.
18+. Play within your means.