Donk Bet

Also known as: donk betting, donk lead, leading into the raiser

Betting out of position into the previous street's aggressor instead of checking to them.

A donk bet is a lead from the out-of-position player into the player who was the aggressor on the previous street — most often the flop caller betting into the preflop raiser on the turn, or the BB leading the flop into a raiser.

The name is pejorative ("donk") because reflexive donk-betting is usually a leak: checking lets the aggressor c-bet into your whole range and keeps your strong hands hidden. But solvers do donk on specific textures — boards that hit the caller's range harder than the raiser's, where the range advantage has flipped to the OOP player. Classic examples: low, connected flops in BB-vs-BTN where the BB's wide defending range connects with two pair, sets, and straight draws more than the button's.

When used as a strategy it's typically a small, high-frequency lead with a wide, somewhat capped range — distinct from the probe bet, which is a turn/river lead after the aggressor has already declined to c-bet.

If you're going to donk, do it because the math supports it on that texture, not because you "don't want to give a free card." A protected check-range almost always beats an undisciplined donk.