Read Question - Villain Limp-Calls And Donks Turn Frequently - Here On Flush Card
This is a 0/2 game and I am the effective stack at $400. In early position right next to each other we have an old man who you could almost describe as a maniac - but not main villain - and a middle-aged guy who I've played with a bit but not enough to completely craft his preflop range. He limp-calls a lot - I've seen him limp-call in early position with hands as bad as J9o. He likes to call along and donk bet small on turn cards. In other hands I've come to assume (can't say for sure) this is a blocking bet for a good price to draw or a "see where I'm at bet" with top pair or something.
I am in late position with Black Aces. After their limps I make it $15 to go (probably should've gone bigger).
I give the middle-aged donker a range of something like 66-22, A7s-A2s, unsuited hands like A9o, KTo, J9o, suited connectors up to 87s, suited gappers down to 53s, other garbage like J4s. 21% range - very capped obviously.
Flop is Q9h2d. They check, check, and I bet $45 into the $45 pot and they both call.
Turn is 4h. Old man checks, middle-aged guy donks $70 into the $180 pot.
I tank fold.
Donk bets can be very confusing to me and reviewing the hand later I'm just trying to get opinions on what he's doing here. Here are my thoughts:
No flop monsters like sets or two-pair because he would've check-raised with two hearts and a potential straight draw on the board.
He CAN have a flush - But why wouldn't he go bigger to target AhX KhX-type hands?
Would he go smaller with a baby flush?
Could 44 do this? Where am I at-type bet?
Could Q4s do this?
What non-flushes can this be?
QTo for example, would he bet this?
Can see AhX or KhX hands doing this? Ah9s, for example - KhTo - He has flush and gut shot draws in some of these cases.
What are your thoughts?
1 Reply
Don't think I'm auto-folding AA to a smallish (less than 1/2 pot) turn donk, just because the FDFD comes in.
This small sizing is like a blocker-bet. Maybe he's betting to slow you down, so you don't bet larger. Maybe he's nutted, and is hoping to induce you to raise. Maybe he's got some sort of marginal value hand, and doesn't want the turn to check through.
What hands does he have here? If he likes to limp-call pre with a wide range, and donk small on turns, and if he's not check-raising a lot of his thick value on the flop, he could literally have every combo of 2P here, and some flushes, and maybe some sets.
If we've seen him donk or check-raise flops with thick value, especially on wet boards, then we can probably rule out a lot of the 2P and sets on the flop, which narrows his range a lot, to weird $hlt like Q4/94/42, and some flushes.
Even if he's "weird" by limp-calling wide pre and donking small on a lot of turns, it's hard to believe he's not donking or check-raising flop with some of his thick value on wet boards, or getting to the turn with a lot of really weak 1P holdings that make 2P, or a hand like 44 that turns a set.
This is why I'm not folding to his turn donk. If he has a flush, he'll barrel again on the river. If he's just trying to protect some weak top pair, he'll probably check most rivers, and we can bet thin for value. Even if he did flop or turn 2P, we can still river a set or a better 2P.
Instead of looking at the donk as a problem, look at it as a gift. If they both checked to you on the turn, you'd either check back, setting yourself up to be bluffed on the river, or you'd barrel, probably bigger, and just check back the river.
But if you call the turn donk, and he checks river, you can value bet thin, so by donking turn, he's basically giving you three streets of value, when we would have only gotten two on our own. If he bets river, we can just fold, and lose less than we would have if we barreled turn.
