... let's consider the hand. UTG is obviously strong; his two callers, probably less so (micro players DO limp/call with AA, we know this, but as a general assumption we will consider ourself ahead of their ranges). If he does only hold TT+ and AQ+, how many hands can he have that we beat? 12 x AQ and that's it. We're level with AK and effectively level with TT-QQ, so we can discount them; we're behind KK (3 possible combos) and AA (3 possible combos). So actually, we're ahead of more hands that he could be holding than we're behind. Plus, of course, we have position. So my action here is to re-raise - say 5 times his bet, which will put enormous pressure on UTG and will almost certainly fold the callers if they have low PPs, Ax or any other combo. We can't call because then we're seeing a flop in a swollen pot with 3 villains and reverse implied odds. Not fun.
I’m a beginner here trying to make sense +EV and this example piqued my interest. I understand your analysis of what hands we beat / what hands are we behind. It makes sense to me if we were HU with the UTG raiser. I’m thinking about the two weak callers, at least one of them could be playing Ax, doesn’t that weaken our draws against TT-QQ? I’m thinking we’re behind TT-QQ. Does that change the way to play the hand?