Stop and Go vs Check Trapping: Which Play Makes Better Sense?

Learn to confidently use the Stop-and-Go play in poker. Find out when, if and how often you should be using it and in what situations vs check trapping.

The “Stop and Go” is an interesting move in poker when you find yourself short-stacked. If you aren’t aware of it, let me explain it with an example:

• The button opens off of a 30bb stack to 2bbs. The small blind, on 30bbs, folds.
• You are in the big blind with just 5 big blinds left to your name and are covered by the opening raiser.
• You call (the stop), the flop comes out, and you open jam all-in (the go).

Typically, you’d use this play when flopping decent equity with your hand. You’ll reserve your strongest connections to the flop to protect your checking range.

This move is powerful to employ when you are short-stacked in tournament poker. I had an epiphany whilst watching someone else play poker on Twitch, and a potential “Stop and Go” situation came up.