Readers in Texas this week want to know about verbal bet declarations and how to play two big cards against a "donkey" who won't fold.

Hey LuckyDog, recently in a $1-$2 no-limit cash game at Choctaw Casino in Durant, Okla., I was heads-up with pocket queens on a flop of 2-3-5. My opponent called my $25 bet. The turn was another rag. I checked and my opponent bet $40. I announced raise, but before I could first put in the $40 call amount, my opponent pushed all-in out of turn.

I assumed he had A-4 for a straight or maybe trips, so I tossed in the $40 call and folded. He collected the pot. After thinking about it, though, should I have been obligated to include at least another $40 because I had announced raise? — Tom G. in McKinney, Texas

This situation falls under the "verbal declarations are binding" rule, Tom. When you announced "raise," you became committed to putting in at least $80 — $40 to call his bet and a minimum raise of $40.

It's obvious your opponent was WAY too anxious to shove all-in. He acted on impulse before you could say how much you were raising. Technically, he wasn't betting out of turn because you did say raise, so his re-raise was legal.

If a floor supervisor had been called over — by you, the dealer or your opponent — he would have required you to put in the additional $40 minimum raise, then given you the option of calling your opponent's all-in bet or folding.

You got away with one, Tom, but don't lose any sleep over it. Your opponent caused the confusion, not you.

In a tavern no-limit game, with the prize being a $25 bar tab, I am dealt A-J off-suit. Blinds are $50 and $100. The first player calls $100, then I raise to $500. A lady behind me that I didn't know calls, and we're heads up. On a flop of 3-4-7 rainbow, I check — and she bets $200. I call, and then bet $1,200 when a queen hits the turn. She calls. I check a 10 on the river, she bets $500, and I re-raise all-in for another $650. She calls with 6-7 suited and wins the pot. How do you handle donkeys like this, calling $500 pre-flop with nothing? — Peter K. in Dallas

Interesting scenario, Peter. It's one you'll see pretty often, actually. Let's take a look...

Your raise pre-flop is solid — a bit more than a standard raise, but that's OK because with A-J off-suit, you wouldn't mind forcing everyone out.

The lady doesn't know how you play. In her mind, you could just be trying to establish an aggressive table image with a marginal hand. Or, maybe she called just because she loves to play suited connectors.

The percentages favored you pre-flop, of course, but not by that much (58 percent to 41 percent). With $750 in the pot, she's getting 3 to 2 odds to call, so mathematically it's a 50-50 play for her.

Once she flopped top pair of sevens, there was almost no way to make her fold. She's favored at that point by about 80 percent to 20 percent. Rather than check-call on the flop (a sign of weakness), betting out yourself about $600 might have been a better choice. She would have called, but she might have been willing to check the hand down on the turn and river, giving you a chance to catch a winning card for free and saving you a lot of chips.

Your big bet on the turn representing you paired the queen probably concerned her. But even if she believed you had queens, she had cards to catch that would win the pot — two 7's, four 5's and three 6's.

On the river, your $650 raise simply wasn't enough to make her give up a huge pot.

Yes, an all-in bet pre-flop of $2,550 should have forced her out — unless she was just ready to gamble. I think an all-in bet would have been too risky in early position, however, with multiple players left to act and the blinds fairly low.

Handling "donkeys" is difficult. You never know what they will do. Remember, donkeys are just playing THEIR cards — they're not paying attention to what YOU might have. They don't care what your bets are supposed to mean. Plus, they just like action!

In this particular case, after she flopped top pair, I don't think you could have forced her out, period.

E-mail your poker questions and comments to [email protected] for use in future columns. To find out more about Russ Scott and read previous LuckyDog Poker columns, visit www.creators.com or www.luckydogpoker.com.