I've been trying to add the donk bet into my arsenal, and have been trying it out lately. Spots that I try are when I am OOP and call a pfr, and the board is pretty dry, I donk bet into the pot and try to take it down there.

When do you use a donkbet? Is it a good idea to incorporate it in my game, or is check-raising better?

Thanks

What story do you think a donk bet on a dry board is telling? Wouldn't a strong hand rather get some more chips out of the pre-flop raiser's cbet?

Donk betting in a heads-up pot usually screams weakness. Donk betting in a multi-way pot looks strong.

The time to use donk bets is when you have a good hand without the lead and out of position, and you don't want to risk giving a free card. So usually these are draw-heavy boards where you have a set or two pair.

+1

If your set on donk betting and you believe you and your opponent both have nothing then check raising would be better. An opponent might float you if he knows your donk betting on a dry board and then your still stuck oop and have no idea what your opponent has. A play that I use quite often is check calling. Instead of donk betting or check raising I will check call with nothing and lead out on the turn. Your call shows him that you hit the board and your bet on the turn shows hit you have something. I do the same exact thing if I have a good hand as well to control the pot size..... however.... if your opponent calls you on the turn then do NOT put another penny in the pot if you have nothing. Trust me because only bad things will happen.

Use the donk bet to be balla and set up a bluff 3-bet against someone you know will raise your donk bet a huge amount of the time with air.

Yeah - this too. Because it screams "weak", do it when you have the nuts.

Why? Is it because you heard of it and think you need to add it? Do you know what it accomplishes? Do you know why you need to add it?

You are thinking about this all wrong. Let's suppose your opponent c-bets 100% of the time on dry flops (pretty common)... if you donk bet and he has nothing, he is just going to fold. If he has something, he'll call or raise. Well, if he is going to c-bet 100% of the time on these dry flops, you get more value by check-raising since he'll have nothing more often than something. You'll pick up his c-bet very frequently. By donking, you don't give him to the opportunity to bluff (and you miss your opportunity to re-bluff).

You don't donk for the sake of donking. You donk for a very specific reason, and you need to figure out what that reason is. "The board is dry and I want to take it down" is not a reason for donking. A reason for donking would be: "My opponent raises a ton pre-flop but rarely c-bets. I'm going to donk to take the pot away from him and that is the way to maximize my value because he rarely c-bets, which means I'm not losing value by donking since he would likely check back anyway. He will fold a ton on the flop."

You need to really think about rationalizing your plays with sound logic. Donking a flop because it is dry doesn't logically lead you to winning money. Donking flops vs opponents who raise a lot pre-flop but fail to c-bet does because you can dry the line between their actions and your +EV result. More importantly, you can actually use math there to demonstrate its profitability.

When it will generate the +EV response I want. I'll give you several examples.
1) I have a very strong hand against a very aggressive opponent who hates being led into and will always respond by raising me.
2) I have nothing against an opponent who raises a lot pre-flop but will check back often and doesn't float.
3) In a multi-way pot when I'm OOP with a big hand and there are fish between me and the pre-flop raiser. This way, the fish are likely to call and then original raiser might stick in a big raise.

The list goes on. You can construct tons of places where you would want to donk... but the point is is that it is very situational, just like any other action.

There is nothing special about donk betting. It is simply another of the many decisions you have on any street. Of all those decisions, one is the absolute most +EV.

Instead of adding donking to your arsenal, consider adding +EV evaluation to your arsenal and explore all of your options (check, bet, fold, raise) and figure out which is best for your opponent, given this texture, given this stack size, given his proclivities, given your image.

Seriously, when I am on the button with a raise and a blind calls (or I 3bet an EP open from LP)....and then this OOP player donks into me, I am raising 100% of the time. The fold rate is unbelievable.

<<ofc, this is at FR 100NL and above.....so your mileage may vary>>

+1

Well put

Really? I'm gonna have to try this (at admittedly much lower stakes).
I hate it when someone donks into me. If I've not connected with the flop I usually instafold, as I always thought it signified strength.

I was watching a televised poker game last night and the commentator said something like "Oh, he's donked into the raiser. That means he wants a fold or a raise."
I'm not sure how we're supposed to decide on the reaction, but I tend to err on the side of caution. I'll try raising though and get back to you...

One situation in which I donk is if I spike a set on a drawy board so I can't give a free card and I have passive villains that I can't trust to make a bet.

EDIT

I suppose any good hand against passive station-y types provides an argument for donking...you beat these guys by value towning them and they won't do it themselves.

arty...track your results for a week. Raise a Donk it 100% (or close).... piece of paper and a pencil will do as you just wanna see the resulting fold %.

1. make sure your raise is decent...never minraise.

2. come to think of it, maybe four box grid on the paper.
fold with coord board
fold with dry board
call/raise coord board
call/raise dry board

(and maybe not board texture....maybe aggr freq, or something else. just maybe not Fold to donkraise as that would take forever to merge?)

Donks are most effective when it's 3+ way and there's a calling station between yourself and the PF aggressor. By donking you get an extra bet out of the fish while the PF raiser will almost always reraise. By doing this, the fish is calling 2 small bets vs 1 big one.

Of course you still have to contend with the PF raiser so this is best done when you have a hand that can withstand aggression/has showdown value. If the fish is last to act and you're in the BB, you would obviously check to the PF raiser, who would generally cbet, the fish would call, then you would raise. In that situation it's not a donkbet, you're relying on the fish to call 2 small bets vs 1 big one.

It highly depends on the relative position of the 'fish', if any are in the hand as well as the dynamic of the table.

Shhhh, don't tell anyone!

I'll certainly give it a try.