From Winning Poker Tournaments by Pearljammer

[mchilger]

Hand 35
Seat 4: (14,950 in chips)
Seat 5: (7,280 in chips)
Seat 6: (2,880 in chips)
Seat 7: (5,475 in chips)
Seat 8: (20,741 in chips) (button)
Seat 1: PearlJammer (1,227 in chips)
Seat 2: (8,115 in chips)
Seat 3: (5,490 in chips)

Setup: I am in the middle stages of a $100 freezeout, and I am extremely short-stacked with only 1,227 chips. The blinds are 200-400 with a 25 ante.

Pre-flop 5h 3s (825): The action folds to me. I could fold, leaving myself with only 1,002 chips, but with 825 in the pot and only one opponent with which to contend, this would be a very weak play. Winning the 825 in the pot would make such a difference to my stack that many players would argue that I should push all-in with any two cards. If I were to push, my opponent would have to call only 802 more to win 1,827. He would be looking at 2.28-to-1 pot odds, and given my enormous range from the small blind, he should call every time. So let me assume that my opponent will call 100 percent of the time in this spot. I can also safely assume to be well behind this random hand the vast majority of the time.

There is a third option to employ to give myself one additional way to win this pot. I could limp and then shove on the flop regardless of the board! Since I know I am getting called if I shove all-in pre-flop, and I expect to be well behind a random hand, why not give myself my only shot at winning without a showdown by limping in? If I limp and my opponent shoves, I will get the same odds as he would get if I had shoved, so I would naturally make the call with the 5-3. However, if my opponent checks, I will get the chance to shove all-in on the flop for 802 into a 1,025 pot. If he whiffs the flop, he might fold! Note that there is a pretty good chance he will fold whenever he whiffs since he most likely would have pushed pre-flop with Ax or Kx. I complete from the small blind for 200, and my opponent checks.

Flop Kc Qh 7h (1,025): Although I whiffed the flop, I will stick with my pre-flop plan. I shove all-in for 802 chips. My opponent folds!

I like to call this play the “limp and go,” which is a variation of the “stop and go.” The “stop and go” is where you call a pre-flop raise, knowing you will be the first to act post-flop. Then, on the flop, you move all-in, regardless of the flop, hoping your opponent missed and will fold. This play is most often used when you would have little chance of your opponent folding pre-flop if you were to reraise him all-in, because he would be pot-committed. The “limp and go” is basically the same concept, except that you are limping into the pot pre-flop rather than calling a raise.