Stop and Go Criteria

There is a flip side to the stop and go that should be mentioned here

The all in preflop puts pressure on WEAKER hands to fold [big range] and makes it a mistake to call. The stop and go puts pressure on SLIGHTLY STRONGER hands than yours (but not monsters) [a much smaller range] that will fold to nasty overcards if they hit the board...

Viewing poker as a game of incomplete information illuminates the stop and go to some extent:

You have PREDECIDED without seeing the flop that you are going to push, and then you allow the flop to come and AFTER allow your opponent to decide if he wants to call. (of course he doesn't know you made the decision in advance... contrasted to Phil Hellmuth's many checks in the dark as a tactic in the same realm of thought)

In these circumstances a J6 beats your A9 because he can see the J on the flop and calls where he would have folded PF. So you lose EV against all weaker hands, lose EV against all very strong hands, and gain EV against moderate hands when the flop falls to your favor.

So you must employ a sharp read on your opponent as to the calibur of his hand/his ability to make tough folds for moderate pot-odds (if ur stack was so large to f his odds up, u shouldn't need to stop and go with crummy hands) and his desire to remain in the tournament.

It is a beautiful thing when it works, but like many tactics I feel it is overused by amatures when the conditions are not +EV for the move.

[tewall]

Why does it lose EV against very strong hands?

Say the stealer will raise with any two. If you push, he'll call with whatever his calling range is. If you stop and go, then the push is twice the pot. This involves another range to call. If we say the stealer will only call with top pair of better, then he's got I think about a 15% chance of calling. So is this 15% likely to be less than what he would called with on an immediate pre-flop push?

It seems to me the two plays are very close. One advantage I see to the stop and go is that if the stop and go'er hits his hand, he doesn't have to push. He can try to leverage the times he hits the flop, and bluff the times he misses.