Donkeys - Feed Them or Break Them.

Most bad beat stories are the result of donkey play. Can be the teller was the donkey, or they ran into one. In most stories, the teller never considers themselves to be the donkey. On the other hand, the readers of these stories usually can see that the author's were the donkeys in most cases.

I just ran into a bad beat that I could have avoided. I could have bet more preflop to isolate better, but that was out of my control after the flop. First hand into a small MTT and I have pocket Aces. I bet 8x BB from early position and end up with 2 callers, one next to act after me and the SB. Flop is 775 rainbow: I bet, next to act calls, BB folds. The turn is a 9: I bet, opponent re-raises 2x my bet. My mind screams FOLD NOW - so I go over the top and he flips over 6 7 off. This was NOT a bad beat; it was a bad play by me after the flop.

I can appreciate a very good player setting me up. I can live with shark attacks, even watching a fish catch something. But I hate to feed donkeys. A small bite is fine, that is the best way to lure them in for the kill. But giving them a chunk of my money really irks me.

A good donkey is the player that is real happy, hits a few wins playing bad cards, so becomes full of them self. They are very easy to set up for a kill, as long as you are very patient with them. It does take a good hand to cripple them, thus the need to be patient. They just hate to fold TPTK, 2 pair, even a straight when it is obvious you may have a flush or better. A shark will only go so far, and if a fish misses you have to get them to bluff at the pot to milk them. But a donkey will typically call you down, even raise, holding nothing more than low pair or Ace high.

You want to have connected well before getting into a big pot with them. This way you minimize their chances to improve to a hand better than yours. Case in point: I just called a 5x Bb raise out of position with 9 10 suited. Flop is 10 10 8 with 2 clubs. I check, donkey bets small so I call. Turn is a small club, I bet 1/2 the pot, donkey pushes all in and I call. He flips over AK off, with Ace of clubs. So he is on a flush draw. He gets his flush, problem is it is the 8 of clubs and I hit a full house. Now this could have been a donkey play by me, but I was 99% sure that I was ahead. I never once thought that he turned a flush, and I was right. Unlike my earlier example with pocket rockets, where my mind told me the opponent had a 7 in hand.

My point here is I feed this player a few times and picked up on his style. I was able to isolate against him. I know calling with higher suited connectors is not a bad idea. What if they had player A 10, then I was not in good shape. But had they, they would have bet large on the flop to stop a flush chase. They would have had to call my raise on the turn in fear of the flush having hit. Yet they moved all in, against a player they have seen fold to pressure. They bet their chase; fortunately my hand remained better than theirs.