Linear Range in Poker: What It Means

A linear range is built from the top down with no gaps: you take the strongest hands, then the next best, and keep going until the range is as wide as you want it. Nothing in the middle is skipped, so the shape is value-heavy — it wins by being better than whatever calls, not by folding people out. The opposite shape is a polarized range, which pairs premiums with bluffs and leaves the middle out entirely.

How a linear range plays out

The shape follows from your opponent's range. The BTN opens roughly 40-45% of hands in 6-max, and a range that wide is mostly offsuit broadways, weak aces and small suited cards. Three-betting the big blind with QQ+, AK, AQs, AJs, KQs and the better middling pairs takes the top of the deck and dominates a large slice of what continues.

Play one out. You make it 12bb with A♥Q♥, the BTN calls, and the flop comes Q♠8♦4♣. You hold top pair with the best kicker against a range full of worse queens, gutshots and floats, so you bet three streets for value and never need fold equity to profit. Against a 15-17% UTG open the same A♥Q♥ is the hand being dominated, which is exactly when the linear shape stops earning and a polarized 3-bet takes over.

Linear against polarized

	Linear	Polarized
What is in it	Best hands, top down, no gaps	Premiums plus bluffs, middle removed
How it wins	Domination and raw equity	Fold equity plus a strong top end
Use it against	Wide opens and players who call too much	Tight opens and players who fold or 4-bet

The middling hands are the tell. If KQs and JJ are in your 3-betting range, the range is linear; if those same hands are flatting and A♠5♠ is raising instead, it is polarized.

When to build one

Two conditions decide it, and both sit with the player facing you.

The wider and weaker your opponent's range, the more linear yours should be. Fold equity is worth nothing against someone who never folds, but domination still pays.

Width comes first: blind steals, loose CO and BTN opens, and limped pots all invite a linear response. Calling tendency comes second. Against someone who defends 3-bets with K♦T♦ and A♦7♦, you want hands that beat those holdings after the flop, not suited connectors that need to hit. The solver-built preflop charts show the shape switching as the opener's seat tightens — linear against the late positions, polarized against UTG, where your medium hands are dominated and only fold equity pays.