Part: Part Eight - Making Moves

The stop-and-go

Pre-flop
Blinds 200 / 400Pot 2,100 (5.2 BB)BBA♦8♣● 6,000 (15 BB)YOU15 BB stackBTN● 18,000 (45 BB)Aggressive buttonraises 900 (2.2 BB)SBfoldsD

You have a 15 BB stack in the big blind. An aggressive button raises and you hold A♦8♣. Rather than shove pre-flop, you can call and lead any flop.

Short-stacked OOP vs an aggressive raiser with A♦8♣. Which line generates the most fold equity?

WhyJam pre-flop and he calls with any two live cards, getting a price to draw out. Flatting keeps the trap set: let a flop come, then lead into it, and he has to call his stack on a board that missed his hand roughly two times in three. That shift in fold equity is the whole point of the line.
What happensYou call. Pot 2,100 (5.25 BB), heads-up to the flop with ~5,100 behind - the shove is now loaded for the flop.
Flop
Heads-upPot 2,100 (5.2 BB)A♥10♣4♦BBA♦8♣● 6,000 (15 BB)YOUtop pair - and a flop shove plannedBTN● 18,000 (45 BB)Aggressive buttonto actD

Flop A♥ T♣ 4♦ - you even flopped top pair. Execute the plan?

You're first to act on the flop with your stop-and-go set up. Best?

WhyThe plan jams this flop no matter what fell - and an A-T-4 means you actually paired top with a decent kicker, so you're shoving a real hand into a board that missed most of his range. He folds the whiffs and draws thin the times he does call.
What happensYou jam, he folds a hand that missed. The stop-and-go did its job - and you had the top pair to back it if he'd looked you up.
Instead of a pre-flop shove he snap-calls with any two, you called and jammed a flop that whiffed him. The stop-and-go converts position and timing into fold equity for a short stack.

Short and out of position, a pre-flop shove gives the raiser a cheap call. Call instead and jam the flop - you make him decide against a board that missed him.