Poker Term of the Week: Donk Bet
A donk bet (short for “donkey bet”) is when a player who was not the aggressor on the previous street leads out with a bet on the next street into the player who had the betting lead.
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Example:
Pre-flop: You raise from the button with A K, the big blind calls.
Flop: Q 7 3 — instead of checking to you (the pre-flop raiser), the big blind immediately bets into you.
That’s a donk bet.
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Why it’s called that:
The term came from older poker days where “donkey” meant a bad player, and this play was seen as amateurish — because standard theory says you should check to the aggressor and let them act first.
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Modern reality:
In today’s poker, donk bets aren’t always bad.
Some pros use them strategically to:
Deny equity to hands that might check behind.
Set up specific bluff lines.
Extract value on certain board textures that hit the caller’s range better than the raiser’s.
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Quick tip for handling donk bets in tournaments:
On dry flops (like K 7 2), a small donk bet is often weak — raising can put pressure on them.
On wet flops (like J T 9), a donk bet can be strong or semi-bluff heavy — play with caution.
Author: Dave Converse, MPN
