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my question is in reference to the hand and solver analysis from this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn2I_Bc575E

A big portion of the analysis of the way the hand plays out (and most hands, for that matter) on the flop involve the differences between the preflop ranges of the players involved. However, as a noob, I don't always understand the reasons that players' ranges are different.

I've included screenshots from the video below, showing the ranges of each of the players. Ignore the proportion of red/green color inside each block, all that matters is the size of each block.

So the differences are:
1. caller has no AA, KK, AKs
2. some differences in suited aces (no A8s, no A6s)
3. No AQo or KQo
4. most notably, caller has way more 22-TT.
5. caller has 76s, 87s, T9s

My questions are: what are the reasons for these differences? In general, what's the principle behind deciding which hands to call with?

Here are my guesses
1. This one is obvious... these hands would be 4-bet instead of called
2. I'm guessing 3-bettor raises these hands as a bluff, which caller doesn't do.
3. This is confusing to me. UTG has about 2:1 pot odds (call 50k to win a pot of 110k), so in general he wants to call with hands that have 33% equity against HJ's range, right? AQo seems like it does, but I guess it's actually 4bet instead of call as a bluff/weak hand, which does make sense. Is KQo just not a call because it's barely 33% equity?
4. Alright, this is the most important, since I'm guessing it's the reason that the commentators say the flop is better for the UTG caller's range, since it makes more sets and pocket pairs instead of 2 overcards? Do these hands have good equity against the 3-bettor's range? Are they being played in a large part to set-mine? It does seem like they have over 33% equity. Why does the 3-bettor not play more of these hands?
5. Perhaps this is a minor trade-off between having A9s, A8s, A6s as weak hands to balance the range/cover the board and using suited connectors for the same purpose?

The 3-bettor: HJ 3-bettor The 3-bet caller: UTG 3-bet caller

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I think an important thing to note here is the stack sizes. The BB is currently 8000 and the effective stack size for this hand is 1,000,000. With 125 BB effective stacks, hands like suited connectors are much stronger because of the implied odds present. Hands like AQo and KQo are less desirable in this hand compared to a hand with smaller stack sizes due to the possibility of domination by the 3-bettor's range (reverse implied odds).

I think you are right that AKs, KK, AA are all hands that are not in the calling range because they would be 4-bet here almost all of the time.

To sum up, because of the stack sizes, implied odds is much more impactful than direct odds. If you have piosolver, I encourage you to input these exact same hands with different stack sizes to see how the calling range changes.

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  • Thanks for the answer, but I don't think this addresses my question, which was about the difference between the IP 3-bettor and OOP 3-bet-caller. If suited connectors are stronger, why does the bettor not also 3-bet with them? And why does the 3-bettor not 3-bet with low pocket pairs?
    – Kevin Wang
    May 5, 2020 at 17:32
  • I believe the reason that the suited connectors are not in the 3-bettors 3-bet range is because they are most likely in the calling range, it's not ideal to build a big pot preflop with these types of hands. Same idea with low pocket pairs, it is better to look to set mine with these sort of hands rather than over-rep them and be in an awkward spot after you missed post flop (especially deep stacked). Also keep in mind the calling range will be a bit wider than the 3-bet range because the caller is closing the action and able to defend his raising range. @KevinWang
    – Clarko
    May 6, 2020 at 18:24
  • @KevinWang hopefully that helps you with your question
    – Clarko
    May 6, 2020 at 18:25

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