Can anyone help? I’m looking for a word or phrase to convey the following meaning. In rough terms,

to delay taking an action (typically, the act of releasing negative information, whether true of false), favoring you against your opponent, in order to maximize its effect (as by leaving him too little time to rebut)

I’d thought “to sandbag” would work, but it seem to apply more broadly, to nefarious behavior in general.
Perhaps something related to “October surprise”?

I searched, but found nothing.

Nothing comes immediately to mind but I'll give it some thought

Maybe one of these? https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/

In my younger days sandbagging, meaning violently taken by surprise (hit by a sandbag), described the poker maneuver of not betting/raising when you have the opportunity, so as not to scare off the suckers, and then raising a lot after they have stayed in the pot since it cost them only a small bet. It's legal but considered a bit deceptive, aggressive, unfriendly. Not quite what Shu was describing in the original query, though there is some overlap.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: haberdasher,

That is interesting, Hab. I hadn't heard sandbagging described that way before.