3-Betting in PLO: What a Real Range Contains
Against a button open, the 6-max 100bb solve 3-bets 10.3% of hands from the big blind. Most players could guess the headline. What they misjudge is the composition, and composition is what decides every flop that follows. The numbers below come from the range frequencies reference: exact weighted counts over every starting hand against the solve's ranges, with the three cards of each row's example flop set aside.
What the range concentrates
The cleanest way to see a 3-bet range is as a distillery. Compare how often a hand class appears dealt, in the button's 47.4%-wide opening range, and in the big blind's 10.3% 3-bet range:
| Holds... | Dealt | BTN open | BB 3-bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-A-x-x | 2.9% | 5.9% | 25.2% |
| K-K-x-x | 2.9% | 5.9% | 14.3% |
| Q-Q-x-x | 2.9% | 5.6% | 8.4% |
| A + K (broadway cards) | 7.2% | 15.7% | 21.9% |
| 2 + 4 (wheel cards) | 7.2% | 1.5% | 0.4% |
Aces concentrate almost nine times over their dealt rate. Kings five times. And the bottom row is the one to memorize: wheel-card combinations, dealt as often as broadway ones, all but disappear - the 3-bet range holds them at 0.4%, against 7.2% dealt. A 3-bet range is high cards, pairs and broadway connectivity, with the low end of the deck amputated.
That asymmetry is why the range advantage page has the 3-bettor at 62.8% equity on A-K-4 rainbow and only 51.8% on 7-6-5 two-tone.
The flush draws move house
Suitedness survives the distillation, but not evenly. On a two-tone flop whose hearts are low (7h 5h Ks), a random hand holds a flush draw 21.4% of the time. The 3-bet range holds one 32.1% of the time, half again as often, because suited-ace and suited-broadway hands are the range's backbone and a low-hearts board leaves their high hearts live.
Flip the texture and the effect vanishes: on an ace-high two-tone (Ah Qh 6s), the 3-bet range's flush-draw frequency is 22.7%, barely above the 21.4% dealt. The ace and queen of hearts sitting on the board are precisely the cards the range's flush draws were built from. One number, two textures, and it explains a classic error: assuming "3-bettors always have the flush draw" regardless of the board. They have it far more often on the boards that miss their high cards, and hardly more often than a random hand on the boards that hit them.
What this buys you at the table
Three usable conclusions fall out of the counts. First, respect 3-bettors on ace and broadway boards in proportion to the concentration table: a range that is a quarter A-A-x-x still holds a set of aces about one time in six on an ace-high flop, and no amount of feel changes that arithmetic. Second, the concentration table is the map for calling 3-bets: the flops the 3-bettor's range amputated (low, middle, connected) are the ones a caller's rundowns and suited mid cards arrive on, and the board-advantage data shows the 3-bettor's edge on them shrinking to almost nothing. Third, build your own 3-bets the same way the solve does: judge every candidate hand by how strong it will be by the river when stacks go in, because that is where a 3-bet pot's money actually moves.
Count any range yourself in the range calculator, and see all three ranges (dealt, open, 3-bet) side by side on the range frequencies reference.