Chasing straights and flushes

[LS1 Brent]

If you get a flush/ straight draw on the flop would you chase it hoping to get that flush/straight if the betting was high for that table?

[Eric]

That's one of the things I like about NL. I get to decide how much to punish people who decide to chase with their drawing hands.

[johnnyawe]

Don't chase cards.

You need to read the pots odds essay: http://www.flopturnriver.com/start_pot_odds.html

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[JJgoneMAD]

It would be unlikely that there may be many callers or chasers on a table where bettings were ridiculous. But assuming there were plenty chasers, and assuming you were drawing for an Ace high flush on that particular hand, it'd make sense to stay in the pot. Is it me? Or is the question kind of vague? The question needs to be a bit more specific i think, but maybe it's just me.

[Autocratic]

I hate it when people say "never chase" or "try chasing" like it's a blanket rule. Do you sense weakness? Is it the nut flush? Open-ended straight? How big is their stack? Are they loose? Are they good at reading (i.e. will know you're chasing - very dangerous)? Etc etc etc.

[johnnyawe]

I hate it when people say "never chase" or "try chasing" like it's a blanket rule. Do you sense weakness? Is it the nut flush? Open-ended straight? How big is their stack? Are they loose? Are they good at reading (i.e. will know you're chasing - very dangerous)? Etc etc etc.

Yeah, but all that is for playing at an advanced level. For folks trying to learn the game, "don't chase cards" is a good rule of thumb.

[Krapp]

Chasing should mainly be determined by the pot odds. You need about 5:1 vs bet in the pot on the turn/river to call. In general, chasing out-of-position or with few opps (1 or 2) is unhealthy. Now if you have a flush draw with 2-overcards or a pair, you hand is much stronger... Assuming your overcards can be considered as outs. In these situations your about a 50/50 on the results.

If the bets are overly large (say 50ish% of your stack) and you have pot odds, you still might want to consider folding. Competing will open you up to bigger wins (33% of the time) and big losses (67%) of the time. I like chasing if I know the betting is going to be fairly "normal" (no loose/aggressives in the pot). Its low risk / high reward versus high risk / high reward. From what I found you always want to be in the best risk/reward situations. E.g. loose/passive, tight/passive, tight/aggressive. In my opinion loose/agressive styles are the hardest to play against in a ring environment