Donkey Space

The concept that a rational and skilled actor will intentionally underperform in an attempt to convince an opponent they are unskilled, made a mistake, or to throw off their optimal strategies, with an intent to capitalize on attempts to exploit the percieved mistake.

Donkeyspace

The term donkeyspace, coined by Frank Lantz, describes the space of suboptimal plays. As described in the previous section, a good player should intentionally enter donkeyspace (in other words: play in an exploitable way) in order to exploit opponents who are also playing in donkeyspace. If both players are good, they each might dance through different regions of donkeyspace, jockeying for advantages.