At a glance
- On the HUD
- 3B
- Formula
3-bets / times they faced exactly one raise and could raise- Typical range
5–12%
- Where it shows
- Every open badge. In a spot: players still to act, from their seat before anyone opens and against the opener’s seat after; the 3-bettor in a 3-bet pot. Panel on your turn: when you open, how often each player 3-bets your seat.
- Read hint
- Above: Aggressive 3-bettor: 4-bet bluff more, call wider IP. Below: Rarely 3-bets: their 3-bet is strong.
- Trust it after
- 12 chances. Below that the number is faded; reads need 12 chances and a number at least one standard error outside the typical range.
What it measures
A 3-bet is a re-raise of the first raise. The big blind counts as the first bet and the open as the second, so the re-raise is the third. When the cutoff opens to 2.5 bb and the button makes it 8 bb, the button has 3-bet. 3B is how often a player facing a single raise re-raised instead of folding or calling.
It isn’t PFR, which counts any preflop raise, opens included. Two narrower stats are slices of 3B: the squeeze (a 3-bet after someone has called the open) and 3-bet vs steal (the blinds re-raising a CO, BTN or SB open). The opener’s re-raise of a 3-bet is a 4-bet, kept separately.
Because a chance comes up whatever cards the player holds, 3B converts almost directly into a range size. A 5% 3-bettor re-raises roughly 66 of the 1,326 starting combos (0.05 × 1,326). QQ+ and AK are only 34 combos (2.6%), so 5% already includes hands like JJ, AQ or some bluffs, and 12% is about 159 combos.
How it’s calculated
The HUD counts a chance at a player’s first action after the open (the first full raise of the hand) when they face exactly one raise and have chips behind to re-raise. If they raise, it’s a 3-bet.
- Counted: squeezes (callers already in), the blinds facing an open, and a limper re-raising after someone raised behind them (in a limped pot, the iso-raise is the open).
- Not counted: the opener; a player whose first action after the open already faces a 3-bet (a cold 4-bet spot); anyone whose stack only covers a call.
- One chance per hand: only the first decision after the open counts. Flatting the open and later re-raising a squeeze is one chance, scored as no 3-bet.
Formula: 3B = 3-bets ÷ chances. It’s also kept by the player’s seat, by in or out of position against the opener, and by the opener’s seat (vs EP open, vs BTN open, and so on).
Example: Nora faced a single raise with chips behind 80 times and re-raised 6, so her 3B is 6 / 80 = 7.5%. The splits tell a sharper story: against button opens she 3-bet 5 of 22 (23%), against early-position opens 0 of 15. She isn’t really a 7.5% 3-bettor anywhere.
Why it matters
3B drives how wide you open in front of a player, what you do when they 3-bet you, and how you play the 3-bet pot, which gets big. A cutoff open to 2.5 bb, a button 3-bet to 9 bb and a call make 19.5 bb with the blinds, leaving 91 bb behind at 100 bb deep: a stack-to-pot ratio under 5, where top pair often ends up all in.
The opener’s seat changes the right number. Against an early-position open the range is strong and more players are left to act, so a sensible rate sits near the bottom of 5–12% or below. Against button and small-blind opens the range is wide, and a good player in the blinds often 3-bets near or above the top. A 9% overall 3B can be a balanced player or someone who ignores the seat; the vs-opener splits tell them apart.
So does position. In position you can flat good hands and still do well, so a strong in-position 3-bet range tends to be polarized: value hands plus some bluffs, with the middle hands called. Out of position, flatting plays badly, so good players 3-bet more linearly: the best hands straight down, fewer pure bluffs, and a bigger size.
Too low, about right, too high
Too low: under 5%
What it says
Under 5%, a player re-raises little more than QQ+ and AK, and in some home games only KK+. Hands a regular would 3-bet, such as JJ, TT and AQ, go into their calling range instead. This is typical of Rocks, Nits and passive Stations who treat a 3-bet as “only with aces”. The HUD read says it plainly: “Rarely 3-bets: their 3-bet is strong.”
How to exploit it
- Open wider in front of them, especially from the cutoff and button. They flat or fold; they rarely punish a light open.
- When they do 3-bet, fold the hands that hate a premium range: AJ, KQ, small pairs, and often AQ and JJ when the sample is real. Don’t 4-bet bluff: a range this strong doesn’t fold.
- When they flat your open, expect hands like JJ, TT, AQ and KQ in their calling range, and c-bet less on high-card boards that connect with them.
About right: 5–12%
What it says
Inside the range, the player 3-bets value hands plus something extra: either wider value (AQ, AJs, KQs, TT) or bluffs such as suited wheel aces. The overall number won’t tell you which. Their cold call rate will. A player who also cold calls a lot keeps the middle hands for flats, so their 3-bets lean polarized: strong hands and bluffs. A player who almost never cold calls plays 3-bet-or-fold, which makes their 3-bet range linear.
How to exploit it
The edges are in the splits and the follow-up.
- Check their 3B against your seat and open tighter only where they attack.
- Against a polarized range, call in position with hands that dominate their bluffs (AQ, KQs, pairs) and 4-bet your premiums for value.
- Against a linear range there are fewer pure bluffs, so 4-bet bluffs work less well, and AJ or KQ are often dominated: fold them more out of position.
- Read their fold to 4-bet and 3-bet size. A normal 3B with a high fold to 4-bet is still a 4-bet bluff target.
Too high: over 12%
What it says
Over 12%, they re-raise more than about 159 combos, so the range is full of hands that can’t stand a 4-bet: offsuit broadways, suited connectors, weak aces. Some are winning LAGs who target late-position opens; others are Maniacs who 3-bet anything playable. In PokerNow home games you also see players who 3-bet any pair or ace big to “take it down now”. The HUD read: “Aggressive 3-bettor: 4-bet bluff more, call wider IP.”
How to exploit it
- 4-bet bluff more with hands that block their value, such as suited wheel aces (A5s–A2s), unless their fold to 4-bet is low.
- 4-bet for value wider. QQ, JJ, AK and AQs are well ahead of a range that wide.
- Call their 3-bets in position with more hands: pairs, suited broadways and AJs play well against a range full of air.
- Don’t open marginal hands right in front of them: every open you fold to a 3-bet is lost.
- In the 3-bet pot, call their c-bets wider with pairs: a light 3-bettor is c-betting a lot of hands that missed.
When it’s your own number
Under 5%, observant players open wider in front of you and fold to your 3-bets. Over 12%, they 4-bet bluff you more and call your 3-bets wider in position. The HUD puts the same reads on your own badge.
How much to bluff depends on the opener’s fold to 3-bet. From the button, a 3-bet to 9 bb against a 2.5 bb open (blinds 0.5 + 1 bb) risks 9 bb to win 4 bb, so with a hand that never wins after a call it needs 69.2% folds (9 ÷ 13), the blinds included. From the big blind, a 3-bet to 11 bb adds 10 bb and needs 71.4% (10 ÷ 14). Openers inside the typical 40–65% fold less than that, so your bluffs need equity when called, such as suited aces and suited connectors, not offsuit junk. If your 3B is out of range, check the splits; the leak is usually one seat.
Using it on the HUD
3B is one of the core numbers on every player’s badge, next to VPIP and PFR. In a spot the badge picks the fitting version: players still to act show their 3-bet from their seat before anyone opens and against the opener’s seat after; in a 3-bet pot, the 3-bettor shows it against that seat. When it’s your turn to open, the panel lists how often each player 3-bets your seat. A split with fewer than 12 chances steps back to a broader version, and the tooltip says which.
Gold means over 12%, blue under 5%, and a faded number has fewer than 12 chances. Chances come quickly, but a small percentage stays noisy: 10% over 30 chances is ±5.5 points, over 100 still ±3. Big gaps show early: 20% over 30 chances has a standard error of 7.3 points, enough to clear 12% and make a read. Read 3B with fold to 4-bet, squeeze and their 3-bet size.
Questions
What is a good 3-bet percentage?
Between 5% and 12% overall is the HUD’s typical range, and most solid players sit inside it. The right number depends on the spot: lower against early-position opens, higher from the blinds against button and small-blind opens. That’s why the vs-opener splits tell you more than the overall number.
Why is it called a 3-bet?
Because the big blind counts as the first bet. The open raise is the second bet and the re-raise is the third, hence 3-bet. The next re-raise is a 4-bet, then a 5-bet.
Should a 3-bet range be linear or polarized?
It depends on position and the opener. Out of position, and against openers who call a lot, a linear range (premiums plus hands like AQ, AJs, KQs and TT) earns more: flatting plays badly and they pay off. In position against openers who fold a lot, go polarized: premiums plus bluffs such as suited wheel aces, with the middle hands called.
How many hands do you need for a reliable 3-bet stat?
Count chances, not hands. Below 12 chances the HUD fades the number. At 30 chances a 10% 3B is still ±5.5 points, and at 100 chances ±3, so treat early numbers as a lean. Big gaps show sooner: 20% over 30 chances is already a read.