An Extra Weekend Edition!

Rut roh, I called someone a “Donk” and they didn’t like it. Actually, virtually every time I’ve called out someone for donk play they don’t like it. The funny thing is, I really don’t mean to call the person a donk. I am calling their play a donk play. It takes having a record of making such plays to be considered a real donk. I mean seriously, how can you have the fully developed character of a donk if you actually KNOW what you are doing? You have to have the observable characteristic of ignorance to be a real donk.

So how do we find the real donks from those just masquerading as donks? See I’ve watched a lot of the poker programming that now habitats sports channels and late night television. You’ll often find the Hansen’s, Negreanu’s, Doyle’s and other pros in the funkiest hands you can imagine. Why? They follow one of the primary rules of poker: “Play the player not the cards.” Where do you think “The Doyle” hand came from (10-2)? That’s not exactly Pocket Rockets! Do you want to tell Doyle he was a donk to win his bracelet with that hand?

When I get “donked” with a ridiculous hand I have a hard time believing that someone has a spectacular read on me that gives them the insight to call me all the way through large bets on every street all the way to the river. I am a “tight-aggressive”. I rarely bluff and extremely rarely put my tournament life on the line for a bluff. When one of these rocket scientists comes along and claims to “have a read” on me, I just don’t buy that. They may “hope” I have the hand they think I have and be right, but I have taken out player at least on a 10-1 ratio for that type of guessing. The funny thing is the other ten don’t get called out for donking me. They just scurry off knowing they got dominated and that their guess was wrong. That lucky one who got lucky is now “brilliant” because he made five stupid bets. Five individual bad decisions to continue with a losing proposition, though he “happened” to have guessed right that one time, oh and I didn’t draw out on him. See I won’t continue if I don’t also have outs.

Now at this point you also have the right to ask, well if he keeps calling how do you know he doesn’t have YOU beaten? Aren’t you the donk here? Yes, this does happen to me once in about twenty of these occasions. But, here is how I prevent it. First, the chain of events almost always starts with my opponent limping before me. Weakness. Second, they never raise me, they just call. Could be slow play, but few have the patience. Third, I have notes on everyone I play, so I tend to know the tendencies of those I play, so unless it’s a new player to me (and usually by this time in a tourney I have a set of notes going), I have an idea of how they react with a strong hand. Finally, I use the timing of their reactions relative to how they have bet in the past to give me an idea of how much they are having to think. Not much help, but it can be a little.

After this type of donk play or any other, I make that “donk” call. How they react next is going to start giving you an idea of whether they are clueless or really just very, very good. In my book it takes an awfully good player to play the donk hand out right. In my case, I acknowledge I got lucky or something relevant to what just happened. Why did I just play those cards. Did I get in really cheap? Pot odds? What made me do it. If they have no idea, then well, there you go. Usually, though, I can see how I got donked if there was a rationale. It takes a real numb nuts play to get my blood boiling. So, what is the point of all this? I use the donkings as a way to determine in my book who has a real clue and who does not. Apparently, the latest fellow I butted heads with is no longer a fan of mine. I am sooooo sad. I do know one thing, though, he doesn’t know why his play was donkish. I can now put him in the REAL donk category!

~ John aka BAS aka BallsAsteel

On most sites I'm BallsASteel (or some variation), on FeltStars I'm BASPokerBlog. See you on the felts

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