Many novice PLO players struggle with properly constructing their 3betting range. ITT I will outline the factors and considerations you should be taking into account when whether or not to 3bet.

Unless otherwise specified, lets consider effective stack 100BB's


Isolation: I believe this is one of the most important yet somehow overlooked or underestimated factors, so I'm leading with it. HU,(IP), with initative is one of the best positions you can put yourself in. Weak opponents should be ISOd relentlessly. Actively search for these spots. Get out of your comfort zone and ISO that wide MP open with JT76DS or A456 nut suit. These hands play so much better HU than multiway.

When isolation is unlikely or impossible, we should only 3bet in rare cases of extreme value. Here is a HH example to illustrate this point:


Poker Stars $200.00 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: $267.95
UTG: $203.40
MP: $272.20
CO: $58.00
BTN: $47.20
Hero (SB): $258.90

CO posts a big blind ($2.00)

Pre Flop: ($5.00) Hero is SB with 2 A K K
1 fold, MP raises to $9, CO calls $7, 1 fold, Hero


Pretty nice hand. Certainly better than MP open and CO call range, so 3bet right? No. There is no isolation possible, and 3betting would just have us go to the flop 3ways OOP, and a hand that has low playability. Take the same hand and I'm in the CO against a MP open and I'm fist pump iso 3betting all day.




Balance/deception: We are going to cbet most of the time as the PF 3better, we are going to get called or raised sometime also, so we need to have a well diversified range that connects with alot of boards. For this reason, hands like 4 middle cards are great to 3bet, because they connect with alot of boards and protect the high card portion of our 3betting range. Take it from me: Most villans at SSPLO react in a very -EV way when a PF 3better cbets and or barrels a board that doesn't fit what they think a 3b range should be. This becomes especially apparent/valuable as stacks become deeper. I can't tell you how many times I've flopped the joint on a 458 or 679 board and seen villans spaz out way too deep with varying amounts of horrible equity.


Value: IMO this is actually the most overrated, and misunderstood factors, but it still matters. Is my hands better than my opponets? This is more important when stacks are shallow and less important as stacks are deeper.


Here is a guide on what a 3betting range might look like for a good, aggro, positionally aware player. These ranges aren't perfect, and it is difficult to create and format them in a way that is easy to read, but I'm giving it my best shot.

Let's assume all Villans are TAG and effective stacks are 100BB's.

Note: These ranges are all for HU pots, any limpers or callers between and your range should tighten dramatically and be aimed at more playability/value hands.

Cheat Sheet:


CO or BTN against a UTG or MP open: All AA, decent KK, very good DS QQ and JJ, AK(QJT or 9) ss+, AQ(JT9)ss+, AJ(T98)ds, KQ(JT9)ss+, KJ(T98)DS, QJT9ss+, JT98ss+, JT8(76)ds, T987-8765ss+, T986-8764ds, very good 2 prs< JJ

BTN against a CO open: See above Add in Mediocre KK-JJ, Very good TT-66, AK(any 2 within 2 ranks)ss+, AQ(within 2)DS, AJ(98)(87)(76)DS, AT(2 within 3)DS, A987-A456ss+ KQ(J8)(T8),(87)ss+KJT(987)ss+,QT(98)(97)(87)ss+,QT (97)(96)(86)ds, JT76DS, J98(76)ss, J97(65)DS, T876- 8654ss+, all DS or connected 2 prs.

SB or BB facing an UTG or MP open: Good AA, very good KK-QQ, Premium broadway hands, and super premium rundowns.

SB or BB facing a CO or BTN open: All AA, decent KK, very good DS QQ and JJ, AK(QJT or 9) ss+, AQ(JT9)ss+, AJ(T98)ds, KQ(JT9)ss+, KJ(T98)DS, QJT9ss+, JT98ss+, JT8(76)ds, T987-8765ss+, T986-8764ds, very good 2 prs< JJ


Remember, there is much more to consider than the absolute value of your hand.

really appreciate the thought and effort you put into it, very valuable stuff.

Your hand example is correct that its a flat, but your cheat sheet is so wrong.

Shoulda put a disclaimer: For novice to intermediate players

hm its obv nice that u put some effort in it, but a cheat sheet wont be a good idea. u stated it yourself why. too many variables to include (stack sizes, each individual villain and his playstyle, level, gameflow, history, their perception of u etc. etc., ) i would just never try to generalize.

I get what you guys are saying, but tbh I didn't really pay much attention to the cheat sheet. The value was in the theory and thoughts that were outlined early on. Learning to apply that theory to individual holdings in particular spots takes time, study, application, etc.

If someone reads this thread and only takes away the cheat sheet, they've missed the whole point.

fwiw if that is all anyone is focusing on I'd just remove it from OP.

Great post

Good post, I hated playing u on FTP

Very good to know and very valuable information. Thank you.

i strongly disagree with your hands in the cheat sheet. i think there are hands there that you are wasting by 3betting when you could play very profitably by calling, and there are hands you could be 3betting that you havent mentioned. also i think stacksize and player matters more than exact hands. just saying

Of course it's not perfect, and of course other stuff matters. It's meant as a baseline for beggining players. If anything I think maybe it's a little too agro, but it's not like you have to 3bet all those hands %100 of the time. Again, just a baseline. The main premise was isolation, which I feel is very important and underrated, so I'm not going to be a big advocate of calling a lot of hands that you think could be +EV multiway or whatever.

I figured the chart my get some pushback, just because nobody has ever tried to do it, or went into much depth on what a true 3bet range should look like. Every players is different, nobody knows whats optimal(even though SK prob thinks he does ). With your experience, you prob have your own 3bet range that works for you, it doesn't mean it's optimal.

Very nice post, IBUF, I think there's def a demand for this by the noobs

Of course most regs are gonna disagree with the chart/sheet due to their own perceptions of optimal preflop play and the stakes they play at. Of course one's 3bet range is situational.

The value in this post lies in understanding the method behind the LAGging, and also serves as an inspiration to experiment and open up.

Keep 3betting UTG raises with "very good DS QQ and JJ" and see how much money you are making doing it , go post the cheat sheet in HSPLO if you want to submit it to peer review.

If that's one of your big gripes with the cheat sheet, I feel pretty good about it.

+1 to seaking, good advice but cheat sheet is just wrong unless you want to make the games weaker which is all good by me.

Having a static sheet is not good, but its a good guideline for novice players.
If you have time you can tweak the sheet and go more into detail, put in some dynamics and deeper stacks, but i guess that could easily fill 2 pages.

And yeah, dont 3b an UTG opener (lets say tight) with decent KKxx and especially not with ds QQ/JJ unless sidecards are premium and connect well.

Yeah, the 3bet versus UTG open is wayyyyyyaayyyyyyyyyyyy too loose. If you would want to do the cheat sheet right, you would do "3bet versus x% preflop open"

for me its not even so much being loose or tight.

like i think if you never 3bet premium ds QQ or JJ, and always 3bet 9865 you cant be doing too badly

For beginners it's definitely fine.

I totes missed middle gappers btw.



In the linked thread, both of the above posters, and a few others who have posted ITT, and NOBODY had a problem with 3 betting a MP open from the SB with KKds. Villan had a TAG profile.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/38...-spot-1357217/

Anyways, really don't want to turn this thread into a bitch fest, and I know a lot of the posters who have bashed the cheat sheet are good players, so their opinions are def worth something.

The "Very good double suited QQ and JJ" seems to be a sticking point. I don't think it's bad against anybody over 15PFR EP to 3bet IP AKQQ, AQQJ, KQQJ, AKJJ, AQJJ, KQJJ, QJJT, AJJT, etc. double suited hands. I'm sure I could find numerous threads Heros 3bet these hands, and nobody said, "just call pre"

I think you've inspired me to unleash my inner lag

hope you didnt take any of my comments as an attack on you, this is a really good read overall.

i just find it interesting how different players approach different hands. i believe you have a higher winrate than me so it could be something i should think about too. it just seems like a hand like QJJTds for example plays so well ip deep, and so badly relatively vs a 4bet that the last thing we should want to do is give up that equity by 3bet/folding.

what do u guys think about 3betting utg raises with like k654ds j764ds ish hands in position vs ds qq and jj or even kk? do u like it more or less?

I like it more. It's obvious not as good as a one or two gapper rundown, but if you have some reads and understand your opponent it can't certainly be profitable.

I mean I agree with others that 3betting the DS KK-JJ hands (especially the QQ and JJ hands) is probably not the most profitable way to play them. In fact I kind of wish OP had just ignored the cheat sheet part of his post as I think it's going to result in the bulk of the conversation, and may confuse people more than help.

I'm more of a theory "teach a man to fish" type poker learner.

Betweeen 75-150BB's

Against a villan with < overall 15 PFR flat the premium JJ QQ and KK and fold K654 and J764 from CO, call/fold OTB(depending on style)

>20 PFR (value)3bet premium JJ, QQ, KK and fold K654 and J764.



150BB's +

< 15 overall PFR flat the premium pairs and you can 3bet the other ones

> 20 PFR 3bet the premium JJ, QQ, KK. You can def 3bet those other hands here too if you are comfortable and competent playing marginal spots post. I would prob recommend beginning players just flat/fold, depending on how good/aggro the PFR is post.