88 and 99 preflop against a raise. Yes, a preflop question

[MrEngenic]

How do you play them? In what kind of situations do you coldall, 3-bet or fold? What is your plan postflop?

A tight UTG raises, it's folded to you on button and you have 88. A clear fold.

A loose CO steal raises, you are on the button with 99. A clear 3-bet.

What about all in between situations, where do you draw the line?

I've been thinking about this today. I 3-bet with TT without hesitation against someone with preflop raise higher than say 5 %. I am really lost what I should do with 88 and 99. Are they really that much weaker?

[MrEngenic]

I didn't think this was such a hard question. Don't you guys have any idea how you play this?

[mister]

I think a lot of this has to do with your confidence to play against overcards once they hit. To me the 3 bet is obviously key if you feel it's going to allow you to isolate the raiser. But I'm at a stage in my game where if that same guy makes it 4 bets, and the flop is something like QT2, I'm going to still have a lot of problems with the hand. With that in mind, I don't really have a set rule on my 88-99 yet. I like to mix it up. But I'd always raise preflop if it meant a heads up battle. Likewise I'll always call if I feel it'll incite a bunch of callers for the set value behind me.