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Okay. Why 77 and up, though, in most games? To thin the field, I understand. But why do you draw the line at 77?

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First off, you have to draw the line somewhere. Its usually a close decision between the adjacent hands, but the line still has to go somewhere.

At first glance, raising 77 UTG might not seem a good idea. You'll thin the field but only get called or raised by hands against which you're about even money (a couple of big cards) or hands that dominate you (bigger pocket pairs). But there are considerations beyond that.

First, in tight games, a UTG raise has a fair chance of stealing the blinds which is a decent result for 77. Alternatively it may end up played only against the blinds, in which case you will have position for the rest of the hand.

Second, it disguises other UTG raises without giving up too much EV. Instead of folding to subsequent UTG raises, people are more inclined to three bet you, which is good news when you're holding AA.

Finally if it all goes wrong, you can always spike a set!