Consider the risky stop and go

There is a move in poker that’s rarely used, and when it is, opponents are often left disoriented and confused. It’s called the “stop and go,” and it happens when a player calls a preflop raise out of position, intending to move all in on the flop.

The stop and go is best used by short-stacked players who have 5-10 big blinds left in their stacks.

Why would you do this? Well, the move is designed to push opponents off strong hands they likely would have called with had you moved all in preflop. For instance, if they held ace-king, they’d most likely call an all-in bet pref lop, but will they call one when the flop comes down nine high?

That’s exactly where I found myself in the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event, a tournament that cost $10,000 to enter and attracted 6,420 players, creating a prize pool of $60.3 million.

By the end of the Day 2 dinner break, I was sitting on about 12,000 in chips, with the blinds at 800-1,600 plus an ante of 200. I was in the big blind when New Jersey’s Andre Nyffeler raised to 3,500 from early position.

Action folded to me, and I looked down at the Q♦ 3♦, not exactly a great hand. Nyffeler’s raise indicated a decent hand — most likely big cards — and given his chip stack, I didn’t think that he would fold to a preflop shove.

I opted just to call with two potential plans in mind. Plan A was to shove all in if I hit any part of the flop, which would have meant catching a queen, a three, or picking up any straight or flush draws. Plan B was to employ the stop and go, meaning that if the board brought low cards — which I assumed would miss the big cards he raised with — I would shove all in and hope for a fold.

The flop of 4♦ 9♣ 2♠ didn’t hit me, so I executed the stop and go by shoving all in for my last 8,500. I had been playing fairly tight, so I thought that unless Nyffeler held a big pocket pair or some other strong hand, there was a good chance he’d lay it down.

Unfortunately for me, my stop and go crashed and burned, as Nyffeler snap-called and tabled 4♠ 4♥ for a flopped set.

I needed to hit runnerrunner to keep my dreams of winning the $7.7 million firstplace prize alive, but it didn’t happen, as the 8♥ on the turn left me drawing dead. The meaningless J♣ was put out on the river, and I was officially eliminated from the tournament.

The stop and go is a risky move, as demonstrated by my bust-out hand, but when executed successfully it’s a great way for a short-stacked player to pick up chips. You may want to consider adding it to your poker arsenal.