Donk Poker
Donk Betting has somewhat of a bad reputation. This is likely because donk betting is commonly associated with fish. Fish do this because they don’t know any better, but a smart regular uses it as part of his arsenal. However, the donk betting bluff can be extremely effective, as is done betting to induce a raise and donking to price your own draws. Dealing with players who are frequently done betting can be tricky too, so as always, we tailor our bets/raises to the individual for maximum +EV results.
The ‘Donk’ you shall no longer associate with stupidity, idiocy or numb-headedness. The Donk will now be your ally, another string in the bow… you get the idea : )
Donk Betting Poker Stats
Play secure online poker with friends using play money. It's totally free, rakeless, and wildly customizable. From double boards to hi-lo games and 72 bounties, the Donkhouse has it all. Check out the features page for a list of everything the site has to offer. Aug 21, 2017 The poker term 'donk bet' was actually coined relatively recently, only coming into prominence over the last decade or so. It started out as a somewhat derogatory way of describing a bad play. Donk betting was coined after a donkey because someone thought that it was a stupid play. But as we have shown you in this article, it can be useful in certain situations. Donk betting is a complex area of poker strategy because it’s challenging to balance the range across multiple lines. “Donk” is a derogatory term typically used by an arrogant player who believes they are god’s gift to poker. It is also slang for “you have no business trying to play this game and you will lose all of your money if you continue playing in that manner”. So don’t wait to be called out, let them know you ARE a Donk!! Product description The I'm a Donk! Medallion card guard is an individually hand-painted 1.5' diameter shiny brass coin inside a clear acrylic protective coin case. This product displays a common poker phrase and protects a player's cards from being exposed or folded during play of Hold'em, Stud, Omaha, and many other poker games.
Below is a list of key done betting statistics to keep an eye on at the poker tables.
Fold to donk bet
Raise donk bet
Donk flop
Donk flop-fold to raise
Donk (stab) Turn if no cbet
Donk (stab) River in no Turn cbet
*I’d put these all in the same pop-up for ease of use.
Types Of Poker Donk Bets
Fold to donk – remember, any bet by you only needs to work a relatively small % of the time to be successful. A good rule of thumb is ‘any bet less than full pot needs to work less than half the time’. Ex: pot 10bb, we donk 7.5bb and it needs to work approximately 43% of the time (x/x+y or 7.5/7.5+10). So if we see a ‘Fold vs donk 45%’ a 2/3 bet (needs to work 40%) is great and even better with a little pot equity to go with it should we get called.
Raise Donk – Since donking is a fishy line at heart, some regs actually find it offensive and will raise it ‘just because’. So be careful donking draws and weak hands here as it will get expensive for you. Instead, donk with big hands and TPTK if they are angry enough to get in a top pair hand! Stat % wise, I just look for extremes like ‘Raise Donk 50%’. If your opponent is getting way out of line here, you can always 3bet the raise with good draws, but be aware you will likely have odds to call it off should he ship over your 3bet.
Donk flop – Not all fish are created equal – yeah they’re all bad but some more so than others. It is not uncommon to see 40% donk-bet and that’s quite a lot considering how many flops these players can see. Notes are crucial here, but if you have none I’d start by re-raising these donk bets on dry boards.
Donk-flop fold to raise – Vs the players that are familiar with donk prowess, this is a stat I like to consult. If I see a ‘Donks – folds to raise’ at say 75% (3 out of 4), I’d definitely be raising light when I’ve missed. Again it can take a while to get a good sample here, so just look for ‘extremes’ in %.
Donk/stabbing Turns and Rivers vs missed cbets – Not a donk bet as such but it’s in the same ballpark and worth mentioning. The common scenario: we cbet – fish calls – Turns checks through – fish pots the River… you’ll find great disparities with different players. Some will never bluff a pair they can just showdown, yet some bet just for the hell of it. You can’t be calling down with Ace high vs fish that can bet 2nd or 3rd pairs on the River, you simply need tighter bluff catchers here like 2nd pair top kicker. Without info I’d make some light calls early on in small pots. When you do make a light call be sure to get that note on sizing and also timing, Ex: ‘Donks river after no 2barrell, pot sized very quickly with 3rd pair’.
When & Why To Donk Bet – other clues
Besides the stats listed above, there are other clues that can lead to a successful donk bet:
Low cbet – When someone only cbets 50% why wait for them to decide what to do? They are giving up a lot so get donking vs wide CO and BTN ranges and make their decision easier.
Low 2 barrel – Just like above, if guys don’t cbet the Turn often, stick a donk-bet in here occasionally. Sure they might be pot controlling a made hand sometimes, but they are also giving up a lot too.
Multi tablers on bad boards – Sometimes you know someone is playing more tables than they can handle, so you can steal a lot of small pots on good boards for your range. If you call in the BB with K♥T♥ vs a BTN open and the board is 8♦7♠5♠, just lead. You can represent so many Turn cards if called and a wide Button range hardly ever hits this board hard.
Donk betting to price draws – Often you’ll be playing passive fishy type players and have little fold equity, but you have a good draw. I like a donk-bet around ¼ pot in this situation. Occasionally you will get some folds as they think you are ‘sucking them in’, but if you don’t you can always bluff those later street Q,K,A scare cards.
Light value/blocking donkbets:
a) Vs fish: This line is great vs fish as they generally don’t understand what any bet size means, they’re too busy looking at their hand when deciding whether to call or raise. When the board runs out poorly for your hand, a small half pot donking-block bet will get you to show down at a price you want, get value from worse and also preventing you from being bluffed off your hand. This certainly not the case with regs.
Ex: You hold T♦9♦. You opt to call in the BB vs a 55/22 on the BTN trying to steal. Our aggro fish cbets an A♣8♣T♥ board and we call. The Turn is a 9♥ giving us 2 pair and we go for a check-raise. He quickly checks back though and the River is J♥ filling in a flush and some straights. Facing a substantial bet here would suck, but if we donk half-pot we can get Ax, 8x and other Tx to call when they would otherwise check back for showdown. There aren’t too many bluffs left on this board run-out so we can comfortably fold to a raise when he has it.
b) Vs regs: On this same board run out and action we can’t expect a competent reg to call with weaker, so a donk for thin value is fruitless. Also at 100NL+ I have found that regs recognize weakness in betsize patterns, so the half-pot blocking bet will often get raised by air that was planning on giving up after he checked the Turn!
As you can hopefully see, donking is an art; a great strategy in the right situations and should be a part of every modern player’s game. Let me know how you incorporate or interpret donk betting in your poker game! Be sure to check the newly released book by Paul Ratchford – Exploitive No Limit Holdem
Cinch (author)
Edited by (Paul Ratchford)
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Donk Betting is a term that is often misused or misunderstood. The term does not mean the player making the bet is a donk, or that they’ve done something donkey-like. In this article we are going to define what it is and talk about some situations where one might wish to use this play.
Donk Betting Defined:
‘A donk bet is a bet that is made into the aggressor from the prior betting round, denying them an opportunity to make a continuation bet’.
So for example, a player in middle position opens for a raise, the button, and the big blind calls. On the flop, the most common action for the big blind is to “check to the raiser”, allowing them an opportunity to c-bet (continue their betting lead in the hand) or check. If, however, the big blind leads right out into the preflop raiser, that by definition is a donk bet. It’s important to note, this bet is only when there is a continuation bet opportunity that the bettor is denying by “donking out” (donk betting) into the prior street’s aggressor.
If the pot is limped preflop, any flop bet is simply referred to as a lead (taking the betting lead), not a donk bet as there is no player who has seized the betting lead preflop with a raise. If the flop is checked around, a turn bet is, again, a lead… not a donk bet. If the aggressor from the prior street fails to continuation bet, any future bet is not a donk bet, just a lead. In the example above, if the big blind “checks to the raiser”, the preflop raiser checks, and the button now bets, they are not donk betting as the PFR already had an opportunity to c-bet and simply failed to do so.
In short, any time there is an aggressor from the prior street, and they are denied an opportunity to continue their aggressive lead in the hand by being bet into on the current street, that’s a donk bet.
Now that we are clear on what donk betting is, let’s talk about some situations one might wish to use a donk bet.
- When the PFR (pre-flop raiser) isn’t expected to C-bet.
- When our hand is at its apex of strength.
- When many future cards will freeze action.
- When we want to trap players in multiway pots.
Example 1
Say we have been raised from MP and defend our big blind with JTo. The flop comes T87. This is a texture that the preflop raiser may not c-bet frequently as it interacts well with many hands in the caller’s range. If the opponent is a low-frequency c-bettor to begin with, or reasonably savvy, you can expect them to check back this texture a lot and take free cards with AK/AQ/KQ/99 and the like. Adopting a donking bet strategy here will serve to deny equity to these hands. Additionally, with the gut shot component along with our pair, a donk bet is resilient to a flop raise, so you can continue vs. all but the most outrageous sizing’s should you be raised. Here conditions 1 and 3 are met.
Example 2
There’s a preflop raise and we defend our BB with 66. The flop comes 732. The standard line is to check/call, but this is a nice spot to consider a donk bet. If we do check and the preflop raiser checks behind us they are benefiting from a free card. Additionally, our hand strength is going to stay the same or get worse on most run outs… it’s just about as strong as it’s going to be right now. Our hand is clearly too strong to fold to a single continuation bet, but it’s not really strong enough to check/raise, and check/calling can get awkward on the turn as if we check again and the villain checks behind us, they get to realize their equity against us. If we do check/call flop, consider donking the turn to prevent high cards from realizing that equity.
What Is A Donk Poker
Example 3
Donk Bet Poker
There are 3 limpers, and the button raises. We call from the big blind with 6♥5♥ and all 3 limpers call. The flop comes 10♥7♥2♥ . This is a great spot to consider leading out with a donk bet. We have 3 weaker players between us and the preflop raiser who we may be able to trap for a flop call before the preflop raiser potentially raises, which they may do with a big heart or overpair to “protect their hand”. Our hand is literally at the apex of its strength, and a 4th heart coming will freeze the action, if it doesn’t beat us. Additionally, should everyone check to the raiser, they may opt to check behind with some unpaired misses, allowing the entire field a free card for that 4th heart. All four conditions are met in this example.
Donk betting is a largely misunderstood and woefully underutilized tool, but it has valid applications and can be a powerful added weapon in your arsenal. Hands that don’t really fit well into any other range may be great candidates for a donk bet. That is hands that aren’t really good enough to check/call or are awkward to do so, not quite strong enough to check/raise, but a bit too strong to check/fold. If your hand seems to not fit well anywhere else, and some of the criteria above are met, you have a prime donk betting situation to take advantage of.
Donk Poker Term
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