What do you think about donk betting?

True or false: Donk betting on the flop is a sign of a recreational player, or is it a criminally underutilized strategic weapon? 🥊

You can use a donk bet, but it will depend on several things.
It depends on who the player is who made the open raise, from what position they opened, and also what their hand is and what flop was hit.

Both. A lot of recreational play donk bet way too often, however a lot of decent regs don't do it when they should, perhaps out of fear of being called a rec.

It's worth saying that only in the last few years has it become recognised as correct to donk in some scenarios. Older players, or those not keen on studying with solvers/GTO aren't aware of this shift in strategy.

Matt_Burns88 said:

Both. A lot of recreational play donk bet way too often

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Not only to often, but also in situations, where they are definitely not supposed to have a donking range, because the board favour the preflop raiser. When someone donks out on a dry A high board, this is still a sure sign of a recreational player AKA fish.

Matt_Burns88 said:

however a lot of decent regs don't do it when they should

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Have to admit, that I am also "guilty" of this. Its just so easy to default click the "check" botton and not even look for spots, where it would make sense to have a donking range. It should be said though, that a lot of players dont check back "bad" boards as often, as they should, and then we can attack them with check-raises instead.

qb93 said:

True or false: Donk betting on the flop is a sign of a recreational player, or is it a criminally underutilized strategic weapon? 🥊

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If I see a player that is donk betting I pay attention to the board to see if the donk bet fits there. Maybe that can give me some information.
Personally I like to donk bet the turn more than the flop.

qb93 said:

True or false: Donk betting on the flop is a sign of a recreational player, or is it a criminally underutilized strategic weapon? 🥊

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There is definitely a reason, why it got its name. "Donk" is slang for a bad poker player, and bad players love to lead in situations, where they should definitely check. This hand from a $6.6 8-man SnG on ACR Poker is a good example. The limp and then call preflop from UTG with his hand is already atrocious.

And leading on the flop with a marginal made hand into two opponents is not only a bad strategy in itself, but he also used a sizing, where he will typically get all worse hands to fold and only better hands to call. So despite his screenname, I think, there are room for some improvements, and it was in fact a pretty "donky" play.

Donk betting often gets a bad reputation, but like any poker strategy, it has its place. When used in the right spots, it can put opponents in tough situations and deny them the chance to make an automatic continuation bet.
The key is having a reason for doing it not just betting because you're unsure what to do.
A well-timed donk bet can be a powerful weapon. A random one can be an expensive mistake.

fundiver199 said:

Have to admit, that I am also "guilty" of this. Its just so easy to default click the "check" botton and not even look for spots, where it would make sense to have a donking range. It should be said though, that a lot of players dont check back "bad" boards as often, as they should, and then we can attack them with check-raises instead.

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To be honest, I don't think it's a HUGE leak if you never donk. In terms of lost EV, it's certainly a much smaller leak than donking too much.