keeping the pot small...

there was post a while back about the advantages of keeping the pot small.
im not sure who it was originally from but a lot of people contributed to it and even though i didnt fully understand it ,it was quite interesting.
Strasse pointed out that one of the main reasons to keep the pot small is that you have more options to outplay your opponent but he did not elaborate.
couple of weeks ago a hand was posted by Sirio about the 5dimond live event,where he had KK in the hole and not sure about the exact details of the hand but i think there was a raise and he reraised and then the original raiser called.
the flop came Q J x i think and he either checked the flop or checked behind after it was checked to him.
his reason for checking the flop was to keep the pot small and i couldnt understand why?im still unsure of the whole keeping the pot small concept,i mean at what stage should you be looking to keep the pot small ,and not be concerned about giving a free card?
is it a concept that only applies in deep stack play or mid stack or short stack?
i mean i dont think it should apply when short stack ,obviously if your short stack and you have a decent hand your not concerned about keeping the pot small but i would really appreacite it if some one could calrify this concept when a couple good examples?
thanks in advance.