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Message: [QUOTE="Jiliac, post: 7138479, member: 1050553"] This is a fascinating hand, and I really like the depth of discussion so far. To add my two cents: Preflop, raising to 3bb is a bit on the small side, especially facing a limp. With just 20bb effective and position on the button, I’d prefer a raise to 3.5–4bb. That puts more pressure on the limper and gives you a clearer path to isolate or take it down preflop. That said, the small raise does keep the pot manageable and might induce wider calls, which isn’t terrible with 99. The flop is really where it gets interesting. The 5-Q-7 rainbow isn’t particularly scary, but getting donked into for more than half the pot immediately puts you in a tough spot. As others pointed out, donk bets—especially online—can lean weak, but sizing is crucial. This one isn’t small; it’s 5.5bb into ~8.5, which feels strong at a glance. Still, it’s a dry board, and you’re ahead of a ton of possible holdings like 66, 88, A5s, 76s, even some Qx that might play passively preflop. So I think calling is still the best line here. Raising folds out worse hands and gets you in trouble versus better ones. Turn K is indeed a problem. It smashes a lot of semi-bluffy flop donks like KJ, KT, and even KQ, which was already ahead. Now you’re not even ahead of some of the bluffs you hoped for. The sizing of the turn bet—12.5bb into 19—does feel like a shove setup, which makes it even more likely you’re crushed or drawing thin. With only 12bb behind, this spot really sucks, but I think folding is the right decision unless you have a very solid read that villain over-bluffs or takes weird lines with weak hands. Without that, you’re just praying to hit one of two outs against a likely strong hand. I agree with the take that large donk bets (especially on the flop) tend to polarize ranges more than just scream strength. But once you get to the turn and see continued aggression on an overcard, that’s where the hand often crystallizes into a value-heavy line unless villain is capable of firing multi-barrel bluffs out of position after limping. Not impossible, but rare—especially at lower or mid stakes. If anything, the real decision point in this hand is the flop. If you think villain is very strong already, folding there saves you some chips. If you think he’s wide and weak, then calling is fine—but it commits you to some very tough turn decisions, as we saw. And on the broader note about donk bets: I like what was said above about sizing being a tell. Small ones feel like blockers, big ones feel like commitment. That doesn’t mean we always fold to big ones—but it’s definitely a signal worth integrating into your decision tree. [/QUOTE]

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