What will the Stack-to-Pot Ratio (SPR) be if your three-bet is called? In a heads up pot, it will be practically 20, though odds are good that other players will call behind you and muddy the waters. Barring extenuating circumstances, I would not call with KQo or 65s, which means the choice with those is between folding or raising. With these, I’d say your choice is between calling or raising. AA, AKo, and AQs are premium hands, and with deep stacks, JTs can practically be considered premium as well.

You need a very strong hand to put money into the pot in this situation. Is your hand strong enough to call? An UTG raise shows considerable strength, and although you have position on the original raiser, your generally poor position will be a liability with such deep stacks should other players call behind you.

Consider your action with each of the following hands: AA, AKo, AQs, KQo, JTs, 65s. You are UTG+1 in a nine-handed $5/$10 game in which all players have $2000 stacks. I advise reading or re-reading that article before continuing this one, which will consist of a series of examples in which I demonstrate how to put all of these factors together to arrive at a decision to fold, call, or three-bet when facing a raise. In my previous article, I offered a theoretical analysis of factors to consider when you have the opportunity to re-raise, or three-bet, an opponent before the flop in no-limit hold ’em (though many of these same factors will be relevant in other games as well, no-limit hold ’em is the one I know best and will discuss here).

Aa to 88 poker odds