I am genuinely confused as to when the best time would be to donk in cash games.

OK, I understand that if I have a hugely aggressive villain who is typically raising many bets, that I could look to donk flops that I hit hard so I can get him to raise etc.

But in reality the frequency of that happening I am finding is just quite low. Is there an unwritten rule on when it would be a good time to donk.

I tend to donk in mainly limped pots when I connect well again but I find that for obvious reasons. I see tons of fish donking flops and I can take advantage of that but reversing the situation I just can't see where and when I should be implementing it as a strategy.

Why do you want to be implementing it as a strategy?

I'm always looking to improve and was wondering when donking (in theory) could be used to my benefit

There's lots of threads about this. In short; it's probably not worth it.

if you're after a balanced strategy, you'd have to consider ranges for both you and your opponent. you should donk on flops that hits your range more than villain's. in practice, though, people tend to over-cbet flops that don't hit their range, have poor ranges for checking back, etc, in general have leaks that are not exploited by donking

Any other advice?

Depends what you mean by "donk."

I see ultra-tight rocks, and loose-passive calling stations as donks. They're both playing in ways that guarantee they'll give up value in most live games.

I think taking on these personas (and others, like a lag) at the beginning of a session can be a good strategy (if you're playing with people who are skilled enough to pay attention -- not often the case at lower and even mid levels).

If you can be disciplined enough to switch gears (and savvy enough to know when), and you can mix in some decent social skills to boot, then it can be good to play bad.

Donk means to bet into the preflop raiser

Oh crap I just realised I thought it meant something else all along. Lol.

When they're gonna check so much that your strong hands lose value.

I donk when I flop sets or two pair + in multi-way pots in live games from early position.

It's time to think about Donking when ...

1) Everyone has checked through the Flop and you are in EP on the Turn. (I still consider this Donking).
2) In multi-way pot when you see a paired board or low cards and you are in one of the blinds.

3) You have an extremely strong hand (or draw) and you think it might check through due to the table dynamic.
4) You have a passive loose PFR player who will fold unless they hit.

There have been a few "Johnny Chan" (as I call them) threads on this site lately. It's when you c/c the Flop and Donk the Turn. Chan used this move a bunch during his tournament runs, but it's pretty much agreed that too much of this can be exploited in today's wide ranging poker world.

Any time you bet you need a goal ... value or take it down. When OOP you also need to consider how often you will get raised and how often you will be calling those bets.

I like Donking, I think it really confuses other players but you need to be sure not to fall in love with it. IMO any time you break the hand flow it makes people perk up and evaluate a little longer. Your story must match your normal play or you will just be spewing chips off.

Another byproduct of Donking? It means you are playing OOP, perhaps too much. GL

Very helpful and insightful. Agree with most of the above posts.

Thanks