[elindauer]

(essays lost some formatting in the cut / paste process, sorry)


What is a donk bet? In poker, the player who put in the last bet or raise in the previous round is said to have "the initiative". On a simple level, he's the guy that has made the most convincing claim to have the then-best hand.

When the card or cards are dealt for the next round, the most common scenario is that all the players in the hand will check to the guy with the initiative. This guy will then either continue to claim to have the best hand, by betting, or check behind and admit that ok, he was only kidding.

In many situations, the guy with the initiative can be counted on to bet every time, so it makes sense that players tend to check to him. In hold 'em on the flop, this expectation is so powerful that it has become almost standard practice to "check to the raiser" when the flop comes down.

A few players, many of them very bad players, don't follow this rule though, and the term "donk bet" was born. It's a deragotory term describing a bet in a spot where most people would check, namely, a bet when someone else has the initiative.

Donk betting is good. It turns out though, that donk betting is a powerful poker weapon, one that most players fail to utilize. I've already described in other articles that donk betting on the river heads up can be effective, and we've also seen that the initiative itself is really just a made up concept in a poker players mind, and not a fundamental part of the game. By learning to donk bet the flop more effectively, we'll learn yet another tool for mitigating the disadvantage of being out of position, and begin to understand how to handle not having "the initiative".

Advantages to donk betting: the right of first bluff. There are many disadvantages to being out of position, but there is one excellent advantage, and that is the right of first bluff. Take this typical situation: button raises, big blind calls, heads up to the flop for 4.5 SB.

In this scenario, the first person to bet at the pot is getting 4.5:1 on his bluff. The second person will have to raise if he wants to resteal, and it will cost 2 small bets to do so. With only 5 small bets in the pot, this player is getting substantially weaker odds to try to steal than the first player (2.5:1 compared to 4.5:1).

Further, in heads up pots, especially in hold 'em steal situations, you're going to find that quite often both players hold weak cards, and both have missed the flop. In these situations, being the first person to bluff at the pot is a distinct advantage.

This is a large part of why so many players feel that "having the initiative" is a big advantage... they've come to understand that being able to bet first at those heads up and short-handed pots is critical, and they know that having the initiative "ensures" that they will get this right of first bluff. But you don't have to give it to them! Any time you see a flop, try to pretend that you don't know who raised preflop (something that bad players have no trouble doing, hence the name "donk bet"). If you think betting the flop is the right play, fire! Don't feel that you need to constantly check to the raiser... reclaim your right of first bluff. Playing out of position is hard enough without giving the stealer your right of first bluff as well.

How often to donk bet. This is of course the $64,000 question. How often should you donk bet? Which flops are good choices, and which are bad?

First of all, simply recognizing that you need to donk bet some flops as part of a good short-handed / heads up strategy is probably enough to improve your results. You're going to find yourself in some uncomfortable spots because you've never done this of course, but keep at it... your opponents are just as uncomfortable, and you'll learn how to handle these situations much faster than all of your opponents will learn how to deal with you!

Here are some tips though:

consider your opponent: donk more against tight players
consider the flop: how likely is it that your opponent has 2 overcards? how likely is it he flopped a pair? Flops like K73 and Q44 are very unlikely to give your opponent either a pair or two overcards.
consider the flop: are there many draws out there that he may put you on? For example, K67 with two hearts may not be likely to make your opponent a pair, but with flush and straight draws in the mix, he may well get stubborn and plan to showdown ace high.
consider your image: does your opponent think you are tight and predictable, or does he think you bluff too much? Donk (bluff) more when you have a tight image.
Using information like this lets you outplay your opponents, usually by playing a strategy that is itself exploitable, if only your opponents could figure out how to exploit it. This can be risky though... sometimes you don't have any of this information. Worse, sometimes you happen to be heads up with a very good player, perhaps even a player who is better than you. What should you do then?

Use game theory. In these spots, your best plan is to use game theory to mix up your play and make it impossible for your opponents to get a read on you no matter how good they are. Your goal is to give away as little information as possible about whether you have a hand or are bluffing, while at the same tending to bet when you have it and check when you don't. A better treatment of these kinds of strategies can be found in this game theory article, but a good general guideline is to bluff about 1 flop in 3, while donk betting about 2 out of 3 flops with which you actually connect.

You'll flop a pair about 1 time in 3, so these ratios put your opponent in a very uncomfortable spot. If he constantly resteals, he's going to be banging his head against an already made hand about half the time. Since you have learned all about semi-bluffing and value-bluff raising, you are also going to sometimes outplay him the other half of the time, even when he catches you on a draw. And of course, he is sometimes going to catch you on a draw only to watch in horror as you succeed in drawing out! This means that his 5:2 resteal odds don't look terribly attractive, as he is going to be behind often and then sometimes lose even when he is ahead.

On the other hand, if he gives up most of the time when you donk and he misses, he may be folding the best hand and passing over 2.5 big bets. If he folds too much, which is easy to do, he may not notice that his strategy has become highly exploitable. Either way, you've forced him to really play poker to try to beat you, and inevitably many of your opponents are not going to be up to the challenge. They are going to spew chips trying to push you off your made hands, lay down winners too often, and just generally find themselves unable to figure your game out. Just the way we like it!