Is it National Donk Min-Raise Week?

God I hate the min-raise. And for some reason, I am seeing it even more and more. I've read and have asked many questions and posts on various message boards talking about the min-raise. The consensus is that a min-raise usually means a monster. Especially from a bad player. A bad player will get a great hand, and someone will bet, and the donk will think, "how can I get the most money out of this? I know! I'll min-raise!". But if I see a min-raise from someone I don't have a read on, I get really confused. Obviously, to get min-raised, you have to have already bet yourself. If I don't have a hand and wiffed on the flop, I have no problem folding. But most of the time I have a somewhat decent hand. Or at least a hand with some outs. What the hell should I do? If I just call the min-raise, then what do you do on the turn? Trying to keep the pot small won't happen, because 90% of the time, the min-raiser is going to throw out a nice big bet. What do you all do against min-raises? Do you usually see it as a monster? Do you fold a lot of time against a min-raise? I need some opinions.

So I decided to do something about all these min-raisers. I was going to either Raise or Fold on the flop. No calling of flop min-raises (unless I am on a draw). Here are a couple hands from the last day. One example where I butchered it, and two that I was happy with

Game # 337707873 - Texas Hold'em No Limit EUR 0.50/1 - Table "Montmell"

Players(max 6):

Button (EUR 157.00 in seat 1)
SB (EUR 99.93 in seat 3)
PokerFool$ (EUR 88.95 in seat 4)
UTG (EUR 100.00 in seat 5)
Donk Min-Raiser (EUR 47.15 in seat 6)

Dealer: Button
Small Blind: SB (0.50)
Big Blind: PokerFool$ (1.00)

PokerFool$ was dealt: 9d - 9s

UTG Fold
Donk Min-Raiser Call (1.00)
Button Call (1.00)
SB Fold
PokerFool$ Raise (3.00)
Donk Min-Raiser Call (3.00)
Button Call (3.00)

Flop 3d - Th - Ts

PokerFool$ Bet (7.50)
Donk Min-Raiser Call (7.50)
Button Fold

Turn 3d - Th - Ts - 5c

PokerFool$ Bet (15.00)
Donk Min-Raiser Raise (30.00)
PokerFool$ Raise (30.00)
Donk Min-Raiser All-In (5.65)
PokerFool$ Payback (9.35)

River 3d - Th - Ts - 5c - 5d

PokerFool$ shows: 9d - 9s (two pairs, tens and nines)
Donk Min-Raiser shows: Td - 7s (a full house, tens full of fives)

Donk Min-Raiser wins: EUR 96.80 (with a full house, tens full of fives)
Rake: EUR 0.65

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Ya, I screwed the pooch on this one. If he would have had a full stack, I would have folded to his min-raise on the turn. His call on the flop and the min-raise screamed, "I have a Ten!". But I pegged him for a donk short stackie.

So the next two hands are where I took a stand. I said, "Screw you Min-Raisers!"


Game #2491976854: Hold'em NL ($0.50/$1) - 2006/05/25 - 13:47:45 (UK)

Table "Trips" Seat 1 is the button.
Seat 1: Lupfiend ($137.25 in chips)
Seat 2: SB sits out
Seat 3: BB ($158.75 in chips)
Seat 4: UTG ($105 in chips)
Seat 6: Donk Min-Raiser ($98.25 in chips)

BB: posts big blind $1

----- HOLE CARDS -----

dealt to Lupfiend [5h 6d]

UTG: folds
Donk Min-Raiser: calls $1
Lupfiend: raises to $4
BB: folds
Donk Min-Raiser: calls $3

----- FLOP ----- [Kh 6h As]

Donk Min-Raiser: checks
Lupfiend: bets $5
Donk Min-Raiser: raises to $10
Lupfiend: raises to $25
Donk Min-Raiser: calls $15

----- TURN ----- [Kh 6h As][4c]

Donk Min-Raiser: checks
Lupfiend: bets $108.25 and is all-in
Donk Min-Raiser: folds

Returned uncalled bets $108.25 to Lupfiend

----- SHOW DOWN -----

Lupfiend: shows [5h 6d] (A Pair of Sixes, Ace high)
Lupfiend collects $56.25 from Main pot

----- SUMMARY -----

Total pot $59 Main pot $56.25 Rake $2.75

---------------------------------------------------------------------
I decide to pop him back here on the flop. If he had Pocket Aces or Kings, I am pretty sure he would have pushed here, and I could easily let it go. His check on the turn confirmed for me that he wasn't too happy about his hand anymore. And when I pushed, I am definitely representing a really strong hand, possibly Pocket Aces or Kings myself since I raised PF. I bet he had AQ or a Axh. I maybe even got him to lay down AK. And even if he had 66 (which was unlikely, since I had one the the three sixes left), he would have a really tough decision. I then decided to show my bluff and told him to not min-raise me. Showing this bluff I think did two things for me. First, it said that if you are going to min-raise me, you might be playing for your stack. And second, since they now know that I may be willing to play for my stack here, someone with a monster hand will min-raise me, hoping I put in my stack. So if I see a min-raise again at this table again, I can have be even more confident that I am up against a monster. I hope this make sense.

The next hand here is just like the above one, except I didn't show my bluff.

FullTiltPoker Game #663988490: Table Convention Center - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:22:01 ET - 2006/05/25

Seat 1: BB ($465.35)
Seat 2: UTG ($133.45)
Seat 3: OMGitsPokerFool ($205.35)
Seat 4: MP ($208.50)
Seat 5: LP ($197.75)
Seat 6: Donk Min-Raiser ($189.05)
Seat 7: Button ($228.90)
Seat 9: SB ($82.40)

SB posts the small blind of $1
BB posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #7

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [7d 7s]

UTG folds
OMGitsPokerFool raises to $7
MP folds
LP folds
Donk Min-Raiser calls $7
Button folds
SB folds
BB folds

*** FLOP *** [Ac 4c Qh]

OMGitsPokerFool bets $11
Donk Min-Raiser raises to $22
OMGitsPokerFool raises to $50
Donk Min-Raiser has 15 seconds left to act
Donk Min-Raiser folds

Uncalled bet of $28 returned to OMGitsPokerFool

OMGitsPokerFool mucks
OMGitsPokerFool wins the pot ($58)

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $61 | Rake $3


Cheers!