A range is the full set of hands a player could have in a spot. A polarized range is split between two poles: very strong hands and bluffs, with few medium-strength hands in between. A merged (or linear) range is the opposite: it is made of the strongest hands down to medium ones, with no pure bluffs.
Examples
- Polarized: a big river bet that is either a full house or a missed flush draw. Medium hands like top pair would usually check.
- Merged: a 3-bet range of AA–TT, AK, AQ and KQ suited — all hands that are happy to get called.
- Condensed or capped: a range that has removed its best hands, such as a player who just called preflop and rarely has AA.
Which bet sizes go with each
Polarized ranges use big bets and overbets: your strong hands want the most value and your bluffs want maximum fold equity. Merged ranges use smaller bets, because medium hands want to get called by worse but do not want to face a raise.
Why it matters
Understanding which kind of range your opponent has tells you how to respond. Against a polarized bet, your medium hands become bluff catchers — they beat every bluff and lose to every value hand. Against a merged bet, raising with strong hands makes more sense. See every related term in the poker glossary.