Your open gets 3-bet, and now the interesting preflop decisions start. The first thing to notice is what the raise does to ranges: the 3-bettor's range is polarized (the 3-bet/4-bet topic's shape) — premiums plus blocker-bluffs — while YOUR continuing range becomes capped: everything strong enough to 4-bet has already done so, so the hands left flatting are good-but-not-great. Playing a capped range against a polarized one is the strategic core of every postflop decision that follows.

How much of your opening range survives depends almost entirely on position — both yours and theirs. In position with the initiative (button vs a small-blind 3-bet) you defend a large share: you close the action, act last afterwards, and can flat hands that would hate playing out of position. Out of position against position (UTG vs a big-blind 3-bet) the same defense collapses. This app's own three nodes show the whole spread, computed live: the button defends 8% of its opener against the SB (vs3bet:BTN:vs:SB), the cutoff 8% against a button 3-bet (vs3bet:CO:vs:BTN), and UTG just 4% against the big blind (vs3bet:UTG:vs:BB). Same game, three positions, a factor-of-two gap.

Each response has its own job. Folds clear out the hands that neither want stacks nor play well postflop against a polar range. Calls keep the strongest made hands plus hands with real equity — in position especially, flatting premiums like AQ/88 denies the 3-bettor an easy 4-or-fold script and keeps their bluffs paying. 4-bets split into value (QQ+, AK-type hands that welcome action) and blocker-bluffs — A5s appears in this node's 4-bet range at 50% frequency for exactly the reasons the 3-bet/4-bet topic detailed: it removes ace-high calling material while keeping backup equity.

Drilling below jumps to Trainer's "vs 3-bet" category across all three shipped nodes — the same data this lesson reads.