Donk betting in the new age of poker

Emperor IX

Emperor IX

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I remember back five or six years ago this thread had a huge impact on my game: https://www.cardschat.com/f49/call-down-3rd-pair-there-method-87711/

Please ignore my donk ass posts in that thread, I promise I'm much better nowadays.

Regardless, when I came back to the game, I still had that thread firmly in my mind. Since, however, the player pool has toughened up considering over the years, I wonder how valid it is now? I find myself getting donked into a lot more often when people are hitting their hands. Granted, I'm playing microstakes, but still, I wonder how much the dynamic has changed? What sort of ranges do you apply to an unknown that is donking into you? I realize the answer is "it depends" for a specific situation, but I think there's plenty of discussion to be had in general.
 
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ezevan1022

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Mostly these are more fishy opponents that doing this. In quite a few situations they are costing themselves money because the initial raiser would cbet a lot. These people in my experiences tend to be more stickier to the hands.
 
Mr Sandbag

Mr Sandbag

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I fail to see the value in donk betting unless it's on the river. If you call a raiser preflop and you hit the flop, I'd much rather check/raise if the preflop aggressor bets. The only benefit in donk betting is when you want to avoid some obvious draws, but even then, if both of you check, the pot is smaller on the turn if a drawing card does come out.

Donk betting is almost always a dead giveaway because you are betting into the preflop aggressor, which is a huge show of strength. If you decide to attempt a steal with a donkbet, you're doing it with no information and OOP. Usually players will try to do this when they call a preflop raise and the flop comes all rags. They assume the raiser didn't catch a piece of it and the pot can be stolen, but they fail to realize that many players will call bets in a rag flop with over cards like AK/AQ and definitely with pairs.

The river is a different story because it is your last shot at getting value from your hand and you risk getting nothing with a check.
 
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cotta777

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The first thing I try to work out is whether or not he is the type of player who will be dangerous to go into a hand with (without a very strong holding) or whether they are C-betting a range/pair. or doing so without real knowledge of positional play.

I guess you have to take a walk down the street to find out what the donk wants to do when we get there,
turn comes we have two options it's alway in our best interest to peel for the the turn.

we can learn alot about this player by watching his reactions on the turn, check/bet, do they give up the hand, fold to re-raises, we can gather info on how they play different ranges if we get a glimpse of the wholecards.

also how they play in position are they tight or chasing/sets/overcards,
if they are just fishy then they are most likely, donk betting random cards wtihout considering the board. where as a tight player is going to consider the board and action.

we can make our lives alot easier by 3-betting these donks once or twice, because we can narrow their range - after the 2nd time unless they are retards they will probably tighten up their OOP raise range against us, giving us more accurate reads on what they may be betting or holding, and make steals easier if they care about their money.
 
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GWU73

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Villain dependent, but;
Typically call and see the turn and their action. If bet looks like a blocking bet, I'll usually raise to about the original pot and fold to a reraise, especially if board is draw heavy. I do not like to stack off here because I run into a lot of sets trying to get it in vs. over pairs and draws. Super gamblers may get me to stack off here, but I have to be pretty sure they 4bet draws.
If board has 1 high card, and seems uncoordinated, I will raise and usually get it in with over pairs or better and sometimes tptk. (AA, KK, AK) folding weak 2nd pair hands. Like TT, 99 etc.. ... on a board like K84 , or stacking off with (AA, KK, QQ, AQ on board Q72.
 
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