Hi,

I'm new here, so I apologize if this is not the best place to share a question about a hand.

I was doing a free quiz on the upswing and I got this question about the following hand.

9-handed MTT. Blinds 500/1000/100. 38000 Effective Stacks.

Hero is in the BB.
Button raises to 2200.

Which hand should you 3-bet from the BB most often?

1. A2o
2. K7o
3. JTs

When they mention "38000 Effective Stacks" I assume this is the number of chips of the hero and so he has 38 BBs.

In this case I selected A2o, but the correct hand is K7o and they provide the following answer:

1) I don't understand why "K7 has more equity when called and playability" since if I simulate the equity on equilab against a range of 60% or 50% on the BTN and remove the hands of a likely 4-bet range (AQ+,AJs,TT+) I see that the A2o has always more equity.

2) Why "JTs would be a good 3-betting hand if stacks were deeper."? Normally this is the type of hand that I would like to see the flop and I would call by default, but in this case why 3-bet would be a better option than just calling?

Thanks for any help

Effective Stacks means, the lowest involved stack. If you have 100 BBs and I have 38 BBs its 38BBs effective for both of us, you should play as if you also just had 38 BBs.

1) Id assume the quiz has different calling & 4bet-shoving hands. For example, if you add more aces and pairs (66-) to the 4bet range, K7 gets more equity against the calling range.

2) JTs is a hand with a lot of playability. You will flop a lot of boards like straight-draws, flushdraws, pair + draw, these type of situations favor big stacks. With small stacks, your semi-bluff on the flop could put you into a bad position when I reraise all-in. But if stacks are big, I wont reraise all-in, so you could argue for the call, because you got implied odds.

I don't understand either. I need info to 3bet with some of this hands. What if he have 30% range!? Or no FE? Well played then . I guess I am a fish.

A2o always will be the better hand. For any "move".
K7o have poor playability, poor blocking effect, poor equity, poor everything. Poor look .

This JTs...You have a lot of equity. Vs any range. Not vs Qq+, I guess, but vs "real" range you have good equity. And playability. But vs 4bet will be ugly. Not so ugly with A2o or K7o, easy fold. But not vs small 4bet. And no one is talking about this. What if we face "min" 4bet!? "The people don't do that".
Ask some cash game player. They don't use JTs for 3bet without info. I mean as default. Only from SB vs BU/CO. But not from BB. At least this is not a "normal" hand for resteal from BB. Too strong for bluff and too weak for value, if you use a polarized range. For depolarized...Still this is not normal as default, without info.

It is not normal (standard) to use this strategy. For polarized range you use hands, which you can't call profitable. Just use the best hands from your "range for fold" (polarized range). If you don't call A2o and if you want to 3bet with polarized range, then use this hand. If you call with A2o, K2s and K8o, then use this K7o. And A2o still be the better hand for 3bet. K2s as well . That's the problem with this dumb polarized ranges. Without info (as default) is just dumb to use polarized range for 3bet. Imo...

You have to understand the concept of equity realization. You can call it a “pragmatic or practical” concept of how the hand actually plays out post-flop. A2o doesn’t realize it’s full equity because when you pair the deuce you can’t do anything with the hand and when you pair the ace you can’t do anything with the hand (except Bluff catch) except lose a medium-sized pot when out-kicked. Third thing you can do with it is to be bluffing with the best hand on the River which is not something you want to get in the habit of doing. A hand like 76s, however, is a hand with very high equity realization since it is very obvious on the board whether or not you will be able to do anything with it, but if it is a favorable flop you can do a lot with it and often get a hand with a higher equity to fold, especially if the turn is a brick or favorable to you, you can continue aggression, especially on the deeper side. Also, it is rare for it to be dominated in a three-bet pot. Lastly, if you make it to the river with seven high, you know for certain, at least, that you can only win the pot with a bet. K-7o is the best hand to three bet with here because it is kind of like Ace deuce off but a little bit more playable. It has the king blocker but the seven will sometimes be top pair GK. Also, with enough aggression over multiple streets, you will get A-high to fold, which is actually serving a purpose and accomplishing something. Jack 10 suited you don’t want to three bet here because it is going to fold out Jack 9 and and 10-9, hands that you want to be going up against and can win a nice pot against. Hands that will continue against a 3-bet have you dominated like King Jack. A hand that makes straights and flushes like J-10s can’t punish someone married to top Pair top kicker in a three bet pot for only 38 big Blinds. But you can punish such opponents in a three bet pot with 70 big blinds or more, approximately. With Jack 10 suited you want to be sure to see a flop with this stack Depth because when you get four bet by ace king or pocket nines you have to fold, but you have great equity simply calling against those hands and seeing a flop. Jack 10 suited might have some trouble stacking your opponent when it makes a straight or a flush 80BB deep unless it is a three bet pot. Also, it might fold out hands it is actually flipping with such as baby pocket pairs that no longer have the odds needed to hit a set. Those are the reasons you might want to three bet it deep.
Bottom line, you have to start figuring out ranges for different plays in different spots if you are in a GTO environment or playing high stakes. It’s very unlikely to ever be a relevant play if you are asking the question, but it can be beneficial to understand it and the theory behind it. In certain spots, your range will include premium pairs and also utter garbage like 72o. This is a very good range to have when you are the big stack on the bubble with high ICM pressure on remaining short stacks (10-7bb) who will either be 3b jamming or folding to come in with a min raise with. MR your premium pairs and also every seven deuce combination and three deuce combination. Shove King 10 type of hands. Something like that, if no one is defending. If they are defending wide with short stacks and high icm pressure, then you fold 72o pre and instead minimum raise with King 5 type hands, unless they are 3 betting light. In that case, maybe I would advise just shoving full Nash.
For Another example, in the big blind With 40 big Blind effective stacks facing just a small blind open limp, You are supposed to 3X in position with premium pairs, A8 or better, king 10 or better, but also pepper in some complete garbage, the worse the garbage the better the play, such as seven deuce off and eight Deuce off. You want to check back with king 9 and ace deuce, usually, and 78o because raising those hands just doesn’t accomplish anything. They have great playability post flop and a raise will only fold out hands that you have beat, and getting limp re-raised Really screws you, particularly with those hands Whereas with seven deuce off, it doesn’t.
In your scenario, Jack 10 suited is going to lose massive amounts when it three bets then has to fold but was actually a flip, or folds out all of the hands that it has dominated only to keep around the hands many of which have it dominated (higher kicker), and straights and flushes aren’t going to matter much with only 38 big blind effective stacks, too rare.