Hey guys
Was playing an MTT and, in the late stage this happens
UTG +2 raises 3.5x
My stack: 45bbs
He's stack: 30bbs
I was in the big blind with 88. I called, faced an AQ high flop and he bets pot.
I snap folded
My question is, in this case its a call or a fold? (PRE FLOP, of course after flop its a fold)
I think that he will bet big in every flop
Range AQ+
What do you think?
(So, i'll have to fold every time that i dont hit an 8, no? How can i call a big bet? even in a low board (for exemple 224)
He will represent a bigger overpair everytime)

Well, sometimes when I really want to finish in the money just prefer to fold a pair even preflop on such a big bet.
I presume that he has some premium hands.

I would almost never fold here. Against a very loose opponent, you might jam in 30bb considering how large his raise-size is. But generally calling is a good option even if you think your opponent will be betting almost any flop.

And I agree that it's a fold at the AQX flop.

88 not a bad hand to call to see the flop, if there is no J, Q, K, A on the flop, then you need to bet first.
And you can re-raise on the preflop, but then you will have to make a mandatory bet on the flop to continue your line, but this option is more dangerous, you can lose more chips than if you call on the preflop.

You can definitely defend less against a 3,5BB raise than a more normal 2,0-2,5BB raise. But 88 is still to high in your range to fold. Even if you are going to be giving up on many flops, this is almost certainly going to be a +EV call in the long run. When you flop a set, you might stack him, and on better boards than AQX you can do a bit of bluff catching and sometimes get to showdown and be good with a pair on 8`s. If he is a maniac, you could jam preflop, but against most players I would play the hand, just like you did