Comments – There is a couple reasons why this play will work the majority of the time.  The first reason is to question our opponents motives for limping.  Why would he limp 7-handed, in the Cut Off (favorable position) to no raise with a short stack in the Big Blind?  What kind of hand would he have to make this play?

I originally put him on either a small pair, or a huge pair.  Either way, this was a good flop to check raise on.  If he had 22-66, our hand actually may be best if he does call.  I also ask – would he really bet out 300 into 250 if he flopped a set of aces?  It’s possible, but very doubtful. 

The flop looks like it would have missed our random Big Blind hand.  If we had an ace, wouldn’t we raise preflop?  If he thinks the same way, than his bet on the flop makes sense.  Unfortunately for him, we understand that this is what he was probably thinking – and turned the tables on him by raising him.  Now he is forced to make a Call with whatever two cards he has, instead of being the pusher.

My guess is he is just taking a stab at the pot with a hand that can’t beat a pair of eights.  Whether he has two big cards like KQ, or a small pair like 33 – our only option is to push here.  If we just call, and the turn helps him (let’s say the turn is a Q) – if we lead out all in for 495 – he probably will call with his KQ, feeling like he is committed. 

Knowing this, it would be a good play if we actually did have an ace, to just call his flop bet and push the turn.  But as we know, with a vulnerable hand like middle pair, we must try to get all the money in on the flop (if we think we are good with our chip stack), or else we run the risk of letting him catch some free outs.  By raising, we also give him an excuse to fold a hand like KQ – “well if he has an ace I’m drawing dead!”

Options – We can fold here and it usually won’t be a bad play at all.  However, if we fold – our Chip Force is essentially dwindling to a point where the next hand we play is essentially going to be for all our chips.  What that means is our nextt hand must be the best

Whenever possible, it is almost always a better choice to try to win the pot without a showdown.  You don’t really ever want to rely on your cards holding up being the best hand, because you will lose a lot of these pots.  If you take it down without a showdown, your hand becomes inconsequential – it really doesn’t matter at all what your hand was.  The only way you can take down pots without a showdown is if your chip stack is big enough to scare off your opponents into folding.  A small stack does not give you the intimidation you need to win these pots.  So, you must act accordingly in relation to your stack. 

With 895 chips at the 50/100 level, it is about this time that you need to take any kind of marginal situation and turn it into a profitable one while you have some Chip Force.