Tournament Strategy Against Donks

[Rhegium 0]

I was at the Borgata last weekend in a 430 buy-in satellite for 2000 buy-in Deep Stack. I think overall I am an above average player but style is a little more agressive and loose than yours. I play alot of suited connectors and one-gappers if cheap and in late posistion. Anyway this hand came up early in the tournament. 1 out of 5 gets in through the Satelite. In the cutoff with KQ suited clubs with 6300 in chips. Starting stack is 7,000. A donkey in middle posistion limps in for 100. Blinds are 50/100 no antes. The reason he is a donkey is because we have played 20 hands and he has been involved in half. Two showdowns he has had and they have been suited cards like 107hearts and K2 diamonds. I want to keep the pot size small as I know I can outplay him postflop. Small Blind calls and and the BB makes it 400. Now the BB in a previous hand made it 8 times BB with pocket aces. So with this and the read I had on him, he had some high middle pair, or maybe AJ, A10 or KQ, KJ. I don't think he is terribly strong. Now donkey flat calls. I think I have a live good hand so I call. Maybe should've raised, but I flat call since I am last to act.Flop comes Q(diamonds), 10(clubs), 8(diamonds). BB thinks about it for a few seconds and bets 400. Donkey flat calls. Now just by looking at BB and his bet size, I think he is weak. Donkey probably on some draw, maybe a 10 so I feel I have the best hand. I have to raise here but I want to be careful so I make 1500. Pot size before my bet was 2300 so I am betting about 2/3rds. Again I feel I have the best hand at this point and am hoping to take it down there. BB thinks about it for a few min and decides to call. As soon as he call Donkey instashoves. I know this is a draw. ABSOLUTLY KNOW THIS IS A DRAW. I am thinking probably a flush draw with maybe a gutshot or pair. Still have the other guy behind me to act and I go into the tank. Now I think the BB can't call this so its heads up. I call and the BB folds. Well I was right and the donkey has 95 diamonds which of course he hits and is extremely proud of himself. Leaves me crippled and i am out soon after. Now here are the questions.When there is a known donkey in the hand, should you raise to hopefully get out the crap. But then again he is a donkey so he will probably call the raise making him in his mind pot commited if a draw comes.Should I have re-raised in late posistion when the BB raised?Should my re-raise on the flop been bigger?When you know your ahead, but not by much and are playing against inferior players, should you call an all-in gamble bet? Percentages on that hand were 53-47 according to cardplayer odds calculator. I figured at time they were 60/40 at best but that I was definately ahead?Should I have folded that hand with the donk's all in bet on the flop?Thanks for the response in advance. This hand really bugged me. But this situation especially early in a tourney can come up alot and I really wonder the "correct" answer.

[ABigMotivation 0]

If you went with your reads, I think you played it fine. BBFIDTS

[Berwatchey 0]

i wouldnt say your call was incorrect. however some important info is missing:what was the size of the pot vs what you had to call? regardless you had put close to a third of your stack in the pot before the shove. thats a pretty serious ammount. if you raised thinking you had the best hand you prolly should be hoping that the silly donkey shoves with his crappy diamond draw(if indeed your read is solid).really its not about whether or not you should gamble with the donkey. its just basically the math. are you getting good pot odds to flip as a slight favorite and is it worth it to you to try.if he had at lest your stack size pre your getting pretty enticing odds.

[Aces Rule 0]

A lot of players play small edge poker ("Make Me of Break Me") early in a tournament and while I personally don't like this style it does get a big stack early for some of those who do like it - and for those who can weld a big stack effectively, they can be a real pain in the ass! If you figure yourself to be a more skilled player and can out play these "Kill Phil" players then you should avoid coin toss situations early in a tourney and look for opportunites to trap or out play post flop without risking most or all of your stack until you have a decided advantage. Bad beats are a huge part of going up against these players and if that is going to bother you then all the more reason to pick your spots more carefully than all-in with just TP.

[copernicus 0]

KQ sooted is a raising hand in the CO with a donkey in the hand, imo. It has both high card potential and big hand potential, and I would rather try the high card side by raising and getting heads up with him. Its a fine line, though, eg with QJ sooted Im more inclined to limp and play for the big hand, especially since it has somewhat more straight potential and is more likely to get action when it hits on the low end.Once BB raises and donk calls I dont think another raise is called for. Youve now got a lot of implied odds on the big hand side, and KQ doesnt look so great on the high card side. If donk had folded I would strongly consider a reraise, since BB might be squeezing and your hand still has 2 way potential.The place we disagree is the flop raise. The board is so draw heavy that you cant be much of a favorite, and you may already be behind to a flopped straight. A raise here is begging for exactly what happened. I would flat the flop, keep the pot small, and reevaluate on the turn.As played I dont think you can fold to the all-in with all the dead money in the pot.

[pokerinc 0]

as played yeah you can't fold out after all that commitment.you played this hand to the donkey though, the thought of keeping it small pre and then swinging for the fences on the flops is exactly how the donks like it.had you punished him with making it 500 pre you may have just scooped the pot or you could have followed up with a big c bet on that flop. for the donk, that swelling pot was a good spot to get it in with his draw as the bb and you were both putting raises in and it made his shovel pretty much correct into the swelling pot.Again, pre flop raise prob. folds out the BB and maybe takes down the pot. Plus it gives the donk worse odds on that shove.

[MovingIn 0]

Raise the donkey PF with strong hands in LP like KQ. Make donkeys pay to draw out on you. Punish them for playing badly.