Donk betting

gracie24

I heard a good player describe a follow up bet post flop as a "Donk bet." Could someone explain when a follow-up bet is a "Donk" bet and when it should be regarded as a continuation bet for value. Even a "dry" board (2 7 J) could be hit by any pocket pair.

Any comments welcome.

penguin7

Usually a donk bet is when your opponent has raised preflop and you have called out of position. The convention is that you then check to the raiser irrespective of your hand.

Leading out is a donk bet, the thinking being is that there is more value in a check/raise, whether you have hit the flop or are looking to 3bet him off the hand.

Should not be ruled out as an occasional tactic though, but it is dangerous.

If you make the donk bet, how do you respond to a reraise ? And if he flat calls you are likely to be playing down the streets out of position.

EvilPingu

Generally, when someone raises pre-flop, most of the time, you check back to the original raiser on the flop, whether or not you have a hand so they can c-bet. Donk betting is simply betting into the pre-flop raiser in this situation.

BorinLoner

A donk-bet can never be a continuation-bet. It's only a donk-bet when a player, playing out of position, leads out into the player with the pre-flop betting lead before that pre-flop raiser has a chance to act.

Example:

BorinLoner raises from the button and FredTed calls in the Small Blind.
The flop comes 78J and FredTed bets out.

It's called a donk-bet but that's not a description of the player making the bet. It's called that because it's something that inexperienced and weak players -pejoratively known as "donks" - do more frequently than stronger, experienced players. Even so good players will donk-bet sometimes but, unlike the weaker players, they do so with a plan.

jugglegeek

A donk bet is where you have cold-called a pre-flop-raise out of possition and then bet out on the flop. In general it's bad to be in this possition too often of having called a PFR first to act on the flop. Donk betting can be effective though. For example if you flop a set against an agressive player it can be a good way to induce a raise and build the pot. They can also be used to bluff a player off a marginal 1-pair hand if you then bet again on the turn and river it is hard for the opponent to keep calling with a lousy pair.

However, in most spots you are better off 3-betting pre-flop (increases your chances of taking it down without seeing a flop).

donk betting with a made hand also means that you don't allow your opponent to c-bet the flop. If you opponent c-bets 60% of the time then they are going to be betting the flop with air a decent % of the time. If you donk out with your made hand then this player will just fold all the hands that they would normally c-bet bluff, and call/raise with all the hands that beat you.