Check Please

  What do you do when you are playing in a tournament and the guy with the shortest stack decides to push all in during a hand and hope for the best? Well, usually this is a sign of desperation, and a last ditch effort by somebody who is desperately trying to avoid being eaten up by the blinds. Their all in bet is maybe an attempt to steal the pot, of course they could be holding a pair of aces as well. The only way to find out is to challenge them.  So let's assume that you are sitting in the late position, and have decided to stick it out with the all in short stack. Along with you taking this ride, there is another player in the early position who is also challenging for the pot. If the guy in the early position checks, and looks like he is going to continue checking, you have a choice to make: you can either raise to drive out the guy in the early position, or check right along with him.  The best move here would be to match him check for check. It is true that you have position on that player, and a timely raise could force him out of the pot. In a tournament situation is this really what you want to do? If you go aggressive and raise the stakes until he goes away, and then you simply lose to the all in small stack, you have wasted your money.  Also if you drive him out and it turns out that he had the best hand at the table, you have missed an opportunity to let your opponent eliminate the short stack. Losing that hand wouldn't have been so bad if it meant getting rid of another player.  By checking all the way down, you risk no more bets than when the short stack went all in, and you increase the odds of eliminating that person.