Merged Range

Also known as: merged, merge range, value-merged range

A value-weighted range that bets thinner value and strong-but-not-nutted hands rather than splitting into pure value and pure air.

A merged range sits between linear and polarized. Instead of pairing top value with pure air (polar) or just taking the best equity top-down (linear), a merged range bets a band of value and thin value — strong hands plus medium-strength hands that still want to bet for value/protection — while carrying relatively few pure bluffs.

Merging is most associated with smaller sizings. A smaller bet doesn't need many bluffs to stay balanced (the alpha is low, so the bluff-to-value ratio it can support is low), and it lets you get thin value from worse hands that a large polar bet would fold out. Preflop, merged thinking shows up in moderately sized 3-bets and in iso-raise/steal ranges that lean value-heavy: you include strong-but-dominated hands like KJs, ATs, mid pairs — too good to be bluffs, not premium enough to be top-of-range.

The practical heuristic: big sizing → polarize; small sizing → merge. A merged range maximizes value extraction against a calling-heavy pool but offers less fold equity, so against opponents who overfold you'd rather polarize and bet bigger.