A Discussion On Handling Donk Bets

Seems like donk bets are happening more and more. Sometimes I see them offered as advice in the forum. In general what does a donk bet mean (sign of weakness)?


Party Poker (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">[i]4 folds 1 limp, Hero raises, 3 call
Flop: Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP3 bets, Hero folds, SB folds, BB folds, MP3 wins.

I am now seeing players who donk bet with the intention of 3 betting when they hit a monster.

What are some general rules when facing donk bets in different situations?

[gh9801]

Depends on what type of player is donk betting

From my experience, when a fishy player donk bets out of nowhere it usually means he hit the board somehow - pair, draw, whatever.

Against a thinking player a donk can mean both strength or weakness. A common line which a thinking player will use a donkbet is when they are way ahead or way behind - let's say you raise AJ and get threebet by a TAG. You call and the flop is J46. The correct line here is to check/call, c/call, donk river. This way worse/reverse dominated hands keep bluffing into you and you lose the minimum against a hand like AA. It's tough for villain to raise the river donk bet with a hand worse than AA, so this donk acts as a value bet for hands like TT or AK.

There are many situatinos for donk bets, and depending on player they can mean anything.