Chasing or Drawing?
You usually bet, raise, check and fold based on only a partial hand. Since most poker games do not begin with a full five card hand, we are generally playing the early portions of each hand based on expectations of making a good hand. So the question always arise: What are the odds of making the winning hand?
If our odds are very low then either we fold the hand or perhaps we bluff.
If our odds are somewhere in the middle range then we might call a bet and see another card. We say that we are drawing to the winning hand. We could hold four to the flush or to the straight or maybe top pair with a decent kicker.
The real question is: When are we drawing and when are we chasing?
Chasing generally means that we are either drawing to a very poor odds hand or we are calling bets that make our drawn mathematically long odds. Chasing is generally a bad proposition for a winning poker strategy and drawing is playing to good pot odds.
You chase and you lose, most of the time. When you draw, you win enough times to justify the risk. It is all about risk and reward; chasers are usually rewarded with an early exit.
-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #68
