3-Betting in PLO: What a Real Range Contains
Against a button open, the 6-max 100bb solve 3-bets 9.4% 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 are exact weighted counts over all 270,725 starting-hand combos against the solve's ranges, from the same data as the range frequencies reference.
Concentration, not just selection
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 48.6%-wide opening range, and in the big blind's 9.4% 3-bet range:
| Holds... | Dealt | BTN open | BB 3-bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-A-x-x | 2.6% | 5.3% | 26.2% |
| K-K-x-x | 2.6% | 5.3% | 12.6% |
| Q-Q-x-x | 2.6% | 5.1% | 7.0% |
| A + K (broadway cards) | 7.2% | 15.1% | 25.5% |
| 2 + 4 (wheel cards) | 7.2% | 1.6% | 0.6% |
Aces concentrate ten 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 a twelfth of the dealt rate. A 3-bet range is not "good hands"; it is high cards, pairs, and broadway connectivity, with the low end of the deck amputated.
That asymmetry is exactly why the ace-high flops article shows the 3-bettor at 65% on A-K-4 and behind on 7-6-5. Preflop composition is postflop destiny.
The flush draws move house
Suitedness survives the distillation, but not evenly. On a low two-tone flop (7-5-x with two hearts), a random hand holds a flush draw 21.4% of the time; the 3-bet range holds one 31.7% of the time, half again as often, because suited-ace and suited-broadway hands are the range's backbone and low boards leave their high hearts live.
Flip the texture and the effect vanishes: on an ace-high two-tone (A-Q-6 with two hearts), the 3-bet range's flush-draw frequency is 21.5%, the same as 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 on the boards that miss their high cards, and mostly lack it 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 flops top set on A-high a fifth of the time, 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, which is exactly what the board-advantage data shows flipping those boards to the caller. 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.