The clue to describing the stop-and-go play lies in the title. In a situation where if you raise you could face a re-raise that you’d have to fold to, you just call the raise and then bet on the flop regardless of what it brings. It’s possible to use this betting pattern from different positions and on later streets, but to introduce the idea I’ll focus on the version of the stop-and-go that you’ll be able to use most often in tournaments.

This play happens pre-flop when you have limited chips and are looking to maximise your equity in the situation. It happens when someone has raised in front of you and you have a relatively short stack and a medium strength hand.

The most obvious option is to move all-in, but in doing so you’re almost always going to be called by the original raiser when you really don’t want to be. So instead, you call the original raise and then, when you’re out of position and first to act (usually in the small or big blind), move all-in on the flop whatever the cards.

The advantage of this play is that it may get the original raiser to fold a better hand than yours simply because the flop is a poor one for his hand. Even if your opponent folds a small amount of the time on the flop when he would always have called pre-flop, you’ve increased your equity in the situation and tournament.

Example

How to execute the perfect stop-and-go when short-stacked

SCENE: The blinds are 100/200 and you’re in the small blind with 7-7. The cut-off raises to 500. In this situation you could move all-in, and that move wouldn’t be a mistake. But in this situation, with only 1100 chips behind and effectively no fold equity pre-flop, as your opponent would be getting great odds to call with almost any hand, a stop-and-go is probably your best option. So you call the bet with the premeditated plan of moving all-in for your last 700 whatever the flop brings (1.1).

ACTION: You call and the flop brings K♥-10♠-4♣ You move all-in and your opponent folds (1.2).

REASON: If your opponent had a hand like 9-9 or 8-8 and thought too much about the situation, this flop could cause him to make a huge mistake in your favour. Also, if he raised from the cut-off with a marginal hand like A-8 or J-9 it’s very hard for him to call, so your stop-and-go has turned a 50/50 shot pre-flop, into a much greater chance of victory on the flop.

Awareness of the stop-and-go line is crucial in tournaments today and it’s employed a fair amount by canny players. Therefore it’s just as important that you defend yourself against it. And you can do that simply by calling on the flop more against short stacks that move all-in on the flop.

So if the roles were reversed in this example and you had to call the 700 chips all-in shove from the small blind, you should almost always ‘keep him honest’ if you held a hand like A-Q, 8-8, or 9-9 for example.