Villain in hand is on my immediate left, and I've targeted to three barrel top pair any kicker against him. He's playing with usually 40bb stacks and calling it all off with hands such as 77 on JT428.

Table dynamic has been either several limps or someone raises with 2+ calls, and 1/2 pot flop bet takes it down. Rinse and repeat.


Hero (BTN): Jd 9h

Preflop: €110 effective
2 limps, Hero raises €12, SB calls, 3 folds.

Flop : €28 [Jh Ts 5c]
SB bets €24, Hero raises €48, SB calls

Turn: €124
SB bets €50 and is all-in

How should we be adjusting villain's range when he decides to donk into us and take the lead?

He's lost his €70-€80 buy in several times, then won a hand to have €110. He's started straddling, and kind of slamming his bets and calls in while making audible huffing and puffing sounds, so I'm not sure if he's a little tilted?

My plan was basically 3 barrel him, expecting him to call down with tons worse. He's cold-called raises for 25%+ of his stack with hands like Kh 3h, so I have him super wide on the preflop call.

Even when he donks, I think his range includes lots of pairs worse than a jack, and something like J2-8s with some discounting, so I decided to put more chips in while the money's flowing and min-raise him. When he flats I'm confident I have him beat, and I'm shipping the turn.

Then the turn pairs the 5 and he jams. How often does villains range have us beat here? With him showing aggression instead of his more standard passive play should we further adjust? Or does the possibility he's tilting and trying to spew cancel that out? This just screams he luck boxed a 5 on the turn to me, and genuinely unsure of the correct play or what villain's range really looks like at this point. I was really expecting him to check-call off his stack. His bet/call, jam turn line concerns me.

Really curious to hear other's opinions on how villain's range should change as this hand progresses.

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A wise old 2+2 post once said, "fish don't bet with nothing, they call with nothing."

That said, given the dynamic you've discussed and how small his shove is compared to the pot, I call anyway. There are enough weak Js in his range to make up for his luckboxed 5s, imo.

3.5-1 odds you only need to be good a hatter if the time. Add that to the fact you are ahead of his range. Expect some variance, but you have an easy call.

So he's a calling station, but what sort of hands does he bet? The fact that he will call off light is irrelevant to the hand as he has now taken the lead and made a fairly large flop bet. I think min-raising this donk bet is about the worst move you can make.

Right or wrong, here's how I handle spots when I get donked into and stacks are relatively short:

Decision #1 is do I want to play for stacks in this hand? If the answer is no, then I wil strongly consider just folding here, especially if I don't think V is going to slow down on many turns. This guy is a calling station, so it's possible a bet/bet/bet line on a good runout will work, but when he takes the lead, that changes the calculus a bit, as his range gets substantially stronger.

Decision #2 is if I do want to play for stacks, what's the best way to make that happen? Usually that means making sure I get the money in without risking him making a correct fold. Raising gives him that opportunity more so than calling does. If I think I'm ahead on this flop I'll just call and take a turn. If he barrels again and I still think I'm ahead, maybe then I'll put him in for the rest of it as he won't have as much room to fold, I get to see another card before making my final decision.

Isoing pre with J9o and shallow stacks seems like a bad idea.

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To be fair it was the shorty in the SB who called, and the limpers folded. OTB I am probably just limping along here, but there are conditions where raising limpers here is still good. Occasionally you iso and the player you isolate folds but a blind calls, and you have to adjust your strategy on the fly.

Yeah, original plan was to raise up the weak tight limpers and fire at them postflop. The SB call wasn't expected.

I tried to imagine his donk range and I just felt like it would be more middling strength hands. Just a feel really, I have zero evidence to back this up.

I put his donks at something like a stronger 10 or weak Jack. I think it's possible he has a set, but that's such a small % compared to hands like a decent 10 or weak Jack. From his play in general I felt a donk bet is saying on some level, he's good with me folding and going away.

Donk bets in general are something I just haven't seen much at LLSNL. So I don't know if I'm way off base with my thought process.

I can say when he jammed the turn I had a sinking feeling. I was expecting the turn to go check/bet/call.




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