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, 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, 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" — 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
100bb effective, 6-max cash. A loose-passive player opens the cutoff to 2.5bb. They open around 35% of hands and call 3-bets far too often. We are on the button with AdJd.
3-bet to 8bb. This is a linear 3-bet: AJs is comfortably ahead of a 35% opening range, and against a player who calls too much we want to be building a pot with a hand that will be ahead when called. Flatting would be fine against a tough opponent, but here it wastes the value.
The cutoff calls. Flop is Jc 7h 3s. They check.
Bet around 60% of the pot. We have top pair with a good kicker on a dry board, and the population we are facing will call with any jack, any seven and most pocket pairs. There is no reason to check for pot control against a player who does not bluff — checking here only gives a free card to the hands we are beating.
They call. Turn is the 2c. They check. Bet again, around 65%. Same reasoning: we are ahead of the calling range, they will continue with worse, and building the pot now sets up a river bet without an awkward overbet.
If they check-raise at any point, we are almost certainly beaten. This is a passive player putting in aggression on a board where the obvious hands that beat us — sets and two pair — are exactly what they called preflop with.
What this looks like in our clubs
Across the five apps we run clubs in, the same 3-betting adjustment keeps coming up: the pools call more than any chart assumes, so linear ranges outperform polarised ones by a wide margin, and 3-bet sizes should be larger than standard.
There is a second point specific to club-app tables: many run with straddles or shallower effective stacks. A straddle compresses stack depth in big blinds, pushing your range toward hands that flop well and away from hands needing multiple streets to realise value. Check the table format before applying any chart.
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 — 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 — it is not the one most players assume — message @supremaunion. You can also compare the apps we hold unions in, since the correct adjustment differs between them.
18+. Play within your means.