NL 25 - 88 UTG - confused by "insta-min raise"

[reemas]

i wasn't sure he was ahead (or behind) on the flop. and his check on the turn "showed" weakness. i thought a bet could represent and ace and if i was ahead on the flop, better to get money in now anyways.

[wingchunflush]

Fold on the flop.

[Antinome]

I don't have a problem occasionally flat calling BB's bet with the intention of betting turn if he checks turn if we strongly suspect he donkbets weak. That goes double when there are likely to be a lot of turn scarecards. Here you kinda got lucky to catch a scarecard, but then you messed it up by making a half-hearted scarebet. Bet closer to pot for maximum effect. Then fold. He actually has a hand this time.

[poincaraux]

Have you seen him donk like that in the previous 12 orbits?

With a lot of people, that's almost always weak, and you can just raise and take it down. That's what I usually do, because who knows wtf he has when he donks like that (I think his range is big if you haven't been playing back at this move), so who knows what'll help him on the turn/river.

Sometimes, when I think the bet is weak and I'm feeling greedy, I call the flop, call the turn and hope the river checks through.

I don't like betting the turn here, though. If the ace is a scare card for him, you were probably ahead. If not, well, results aside, they love to c/r when they hit on the turn like this.

I think that flop insta-min-(check)raises are more likely to be weak than turn insta-min-(check)raises, and that river insta-min-(check)raises are almost always super strong.

EDIT: meh .. but maybe he's donking with a jack, and the ace is a scare card, so good bet on the turn if that's the case. I find that lots of people fold when you raise the flop here, so that's still my default play with this hand and with air.