As a poker coach, I’ve seen players make the same costly errors time and time again. While there are many leaks to plug, there is one that stands out above all others. The number one postflop mistake that I observe new poker players make is
donk betting (or leading) too often.
A “donk bet” is when a player who was not the pre-flop aggressor leads out with a bet on the flop, turn, or river, rather than checking to the player who last raised. In 98% of situations, the correct play is to check to the pre-flop aggressor.
Donk betting is almost always considered a bad play for three main reasons. Let’s break down why you should eliminate this move from your game.
1. Your Opponent’s Range is Stronger
When you only call on the previous betting round, your opponent typically has a higher frequency of strong hands in their range on the next street.
Think about a common pre-flop scenario: an opponent raises and you just call from the big blind. In this situation, you likely wouldn’t have premium hands like pocket aces, kings, queens, jacks, or ace-king in your range. Why? Because you would have re-raised with them before the flop. Your opponent who did the raising, however, absolutely has these powerful hands in their range. This simple fact necessitates that you do a lot of checking to them postflop.
2. You’re Leaking Too Much Information
When you lead out with a bet, you’re essentially telling your opponent that you have a decently strong hand. This allows them to play logically and easily put you on a specific range of hands.
To make your range difficult to read, it’s far better to check with a wide mix of holdings, including strong hands, marginal hands, junk, and draws. Some players might think they can be tricky by leading with a wide, nonsensical range, but opponents will quickly figure this strategy out. By checking your entire range, you stay balanced and unpredictable.
3. You Lose Control of the Pot When Out of Position
Playing out of position is one of the toughest situations in poker, and it requires you to play more cautiously because it’s difficult to control the size of the pot. As a general rule, you don’t want the pot to get gigantic unless you are favored to win it.
When you donk bet with marginal hands from out of position, you give your opponent the perfect opportunity to raise. This can make the pot gigantic, which is usually an undesirable outcome for you. For the majority of your marginal hands, the goal should be to check, see what develops, and keep the pot manageable. While you might want to put money in the pot with your absolute best hands or high-equity draws, the primary strategy when out of position should be to keep the pot as manageable as possible.
By removing the donk bet from your arsenal and checking to the pre-flop aggressor, you’ll put yourself in better situations postflop, give away less information, and ultimately, become a much tougher opponent to play against.