Stop and Go Poker Strategy
A poker strategy to consider when short stacked in a no limit texas holdem poker tournament is called the stop and go. The stop and go is a tournament tactic used when a short stacked player calls a preflop raise out of position with the intention of going all-in on the flop. In a poker tournament when a player is short stacked with a decent hand and is facing a raise from a player that has position on them, the obvious play might seem to move all-in. However, rather than going all-in at this point and risk a coin flip situation, the better option may be to use the stop and go.
The stop and go works best when you are in the big blind with a short stack and a player in late position makes a standard raise of about three big blinds and everyone else at the table had folded. You flat call their raise with the intention of pushing all-in no matter what the flop is. However, if the flop makes you a great hand, like a set, straight or flush, it is ok to ditch the stop and go and instead slow play your opponent if you think it's the best way to get the most chips from that player.
The reason that going all-in on the flop instead of preflop is that there's a good chance your opponent will miss the flop and will not have the pot odds to call your all-in bet. If you had gone all-in preflop they would likely have the pot odds to call you with just about any hand and it's likely you would find yourself in a coin flip situation. The stop and go forces your opponent to make a much tougher decision on the flop than they would have preflop.
Small and middle pairs are ideal hands to attempt the stop and go. With hands like AK, and high pairs it would be better to go all-in preflop instead of doing a stop and go because you would have a better chance that your opponent will call your all-in. You should have about 10-15 big blinds to attempt a stop and go. If you tried it with much less then that your opponent would likely have the pot odds to call.
The stop and go increases your fold equity, giving you a better chance to win the hand and make more money. Learning tactics like the stop and go will help improve your win rate and is like receiving a poker bonus that pays you over and over again. If you play poker online it won't take long until you get the chance to use the stop and go poker strategy.
