Re: Seeking advice/input
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I've read in a few places that the most important thing to becoming a successful poker player is not strategy, pot odds or the like, but rather, "finding a good game" ....
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Another question I have relates to chasing and drawing hands.
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The answer to your "chasing" question relates directly to your underestimation of importance of pot odds in your opening statement. If you have the proper odds to "chase" a draw (assuming it will win if you hit it) then it is correct to "chase". Another response mentioned that you need to have enough players in the hand to begin with or you shouldn't even see the flop with drawing hands.
Pre flop and post flop raises will often give you incorrect odds even if there are many players so don't let the "lots of players" rule serve as your only criteria for the entire hand. If there are lots of limpers and callers, it's often correct to chase any drawing hand to the end. (By any drawing hand I don't mean any 2 cards.) Open end straights and 4-flushes are typically easy to draw to correctly with as few as 4 or 5 limpers (and no raises) again, providing that they're likey to be the best hand if they hit. Gutshots and set-chases take considerably higher pot odds adn are rarely chasable, but there are times when it is correct to chase these as well.
"Seeing the turn" odds are usually easier to make because the flop bets are still SBs. "Seeing the river" odds is usually not reachable for most drawing hands since the pot has been built from SBs and the bet is now a BB. Effective odds come into play and this is a deeper subject than I am qualified to cover properly but, in a nutshell, once you've found the "best" table to play, don't forget to use the rest of the poker tools to help you make correct decisions.
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