Donk Betting

Greetings everyone, I have a question that’s puzzled me forever....is it ever OK to “donk bet” on the flop? Any situation where it’s a good play?

Thanks for any help/advice you can give me!

ssory83 said:

I do not understand well but I will answer. Why are you a "donk" when you raise the flop? If you have a grandparent hand it is not advisable to raise the flop?

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From what I understand.....it’s considered a “donk bet” when you’re first to bet, you open-raise the flop and you weren’t the preflop aggressor.


Supposedly the correct play is to check to the preflop aggressor.

What I assume you are saying is that you flat called a raised (re-raised?) pot and were in early position; On the flop you then played aggressively, betting into the preflop aggressor(s)?

In this case it is typically a 'Donkish' move unless it is late stages and you are short stacked and have a monster(straight/ nut flush/ set / 2 pair); rather get it in ahead and see where the chips land - the advantage of this is to force out those flush draws.

The accepted move however is check re-raise. Villain assumes you hand is week as you check so they will generally raise (maybe even a bluff). Your re-raise puts the pressure on them (if they bluff they shouldn't fire again) to make the call; if the stack sizes and raises are correct this can force them into an all in situation with a weaker hand if they attempted the steal. Even on the turn / river they will be more wary of your hand

The donk-bet well works on the late stages of tournament.

usually villain has lets say 9 10 and the flop is 2 5 10 he can donk bet you so you dont check behind with A K

No, definitely the donk bet on the flop does not always work. What will you do if the villain raises or all-in?

ratmantoo said:

What I assume you are saying is that you flat called a raised (re-raised?) pot and were in early position; On the flop you then played aggressively, betting into the preflop aggressor(s)?

In this case it is typically a 'Donkish' move unless it is late stages and you are short stacked and have a monster(straight/ nut flush/ set / 2 pair); rather get it in ahead and see where the chips land - the advantage of this is to force out those flush draws.

The accepted move however is check re-raise. Villain assumes you hand is week as you check so they will generally raise (maybe even a bluff). Your re-raise puts the pressure on them (if they bluff they shouldn't fire again) to make the call; if the stack sizes and raises are correct this can force them into an all in situation with a weaker hand if they attempted the steal. Even on the turn / river they will be more wary of your hand

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Yes....This was the scenario I was thinking of.
And also, what if I’m in the blinds and call a late position raise preflop. The flop comes and I hit a piece of it, it’s wrong to lead out with a bet?

It depend what piece of the flop you hit and what ranges you put the aggressor on.

Bottom or middle pair are not the nuts, villain may have hit a set, 2pair, or even worse hit top pair with you but has the better kicker. First figure out what hands are beating you, possible flush and straight draws and rank your hand accordingly. If you are using a HUD pay attention to villains aggression factor, VPIP etc or if not how you think they play. Will they bet into the pot with air, if you bet will they fold,etc. All these factors play a role in determining what is the right course of action.

If I had no reads / data on the player and lets say middle pair on the flop, I would check to villain. Depending on the bet size by villain, I would call or re-raise.The idea being that I need another card to beat him (or force him of the hand); he did raise pre-flop indicating a decent hand however he is in late position, so any Ace, any pocket pair, 1 gap suited connectors etc. and the chances of flopping a set are about 10.5%. If villain pushes then its an easy fold.

With the maniacs at the tables nowadays, it is certainly harder in these situations. However you need the right cards to defend your blinds; basically the same range (maybe a little looser) as someone in late position and it is a lot more dangerous.

The best advice is Doyle Brunson's .
"Try to decide how good your hand is at a given moment. Nothing else matters. Nothing." --Doyle Brunson

In some spots donk betting does help control the pot on a very coordinated board. Going to be tough for an opponent to reraise you on a flop of J 10 8.

I play Donk very rarely and without position 2 pairs plus in multiport I bet Donk almost sweat)

well, bet with strong holdings, i think it's not advisable to bet into a player when you miss, because you give him a lot of information and are oop the rest of the hand. of course, you can do this if he is a fit or fold player, or if he folds a lot to cbets, but sincerely, i wouldn't do that very often

I like using the donk bet to either probe or bluff. I'll never do it for value unless the board is super wet. If you sense weakness donk bluffing the river is always an option.

I prefer a donk better vs a donk caller.

I prefer, can be useful in many situations.

Thanks for all he replies everyone.....it’s all great info!

Is donk betting on the flop because you don’t want villian to see the turn card a good play? Say the flop presents straight or flush draw possibilities and u don’t want to give villian a free card so he can make those hands , is it ok for me to go ahead and lead out with a donk bet?

it all depends on the hand, 7 * 2 bad

I think donk betting makes sense when there are several players in the pot and you have a high risk of being outdrawn.

I do not know of any reason for such a bet. Donk Bet - this is not a very smart action.
Pot-control or Check-Raise seems to me more optimal

it can be a good strategy against certain opponents. depending on the effective stack to pot ratio size it can be a good bet with a draw to try to take down the pot. if you have a small top pair in a multiway pot such as 89 on 862 flop it can be a good bet to find out where you are in the hand, and also make hands with over cards fold rather than giving them a free card if it gets checked through.

I plan to explore this a lot more over the next couple weeks.... I believe that NLH is definitely heading into a direction where donk betting is more acceptable....

With that said, I think check raising the flop is much more profitable then donk betting over the long term....

now that's not to say you shouldnt ever donk bet the flop.... but I think it's more player dependent then anything.... if your Vil is very passive post, but actually opens pre at a good frequency. Donk betting for value can be more profitable then check raising since Vil wont be betting meny flops, but instead calling down....

Yes you should donk bet.

sammy22 said:

Greetings everyone, I have a question that’s puzzled me forever....is it ever OK to “donk bet” on the flop? Any situation where it’s a good play?

Thanks for any help/advice you can give me!

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Here is an interesting article on the subject.

https://upswingpoker.com/donk-bet-lead-flop-strategy/

"Donk betting" is useful, especially against very tight players which will either raise you or fold in that situation.

Donk betting is best used to prevent the opponent from making a drawn hand. If he has a made hand, it won't affect his play at all. On the other hand if you have a strong drawing hand, you don't want to fold everyone at the flop either, you want them to invest chips, make your hand, then win a large pot. That being said it is best used if you have strong pair plus kicker and want to prevent the turn card from showing. Now, having said all that, you don't want to do this a lot, because then your opponents will put you on a strong pair with kicker every time you do it. You never want to be predictable.