"Checking it Down All-In"

How many times do we collude with another player against the all-in short stack?  With 3  or more players calling the all-in, unless there is a significant money factor (next player out pushes everyone up a notch in the payoff) involved, Annie Duke suggests in her book, "Decide to Play Great Poker", that it is not in your best interest to do so.  Say there are 25 players left in the tournament, paying only 7 spots and the short stack shoves with QJ suited.  A big stack calls with AK, a medium stack calls with pocket 7's, and you jump in with AQ.  The flop is J/5/9 rainbow.  If the action is checked to you, which it often is, your best play at this point is to bet into the dry pot.  The other two players may shoot you a nasty look as they muck their cards, particularly when you turn over no pair, but think of this way:  You were probably going to lose the pot to the all-in player anyway, and if an ace or 7 spikes you would have lost to one of the other players.

It is important to remember that you are acting in your own best interest, not the interests of the other players.  It makes no difference at all to you if the player is knocked out or not.