In Texas Holdem one of the best draws you can have is a flush draw after the flop. If you’re dealt two spades for instance, and the flop comes 2s-7s-Jd, then you have a good chance at winning the hand. The first thing you need to do to ensure you should make the call is by finding out how much it’s going to cost you to call the hand. You also need to find out how much is in the pot already.

The ideal situation when you’re sitting with a flush draw post flop is that nobody leads out betting the flop and you get a free card. Often players won’t allow free cards when there is a flush draw though, so you need to be prepared to chase your draw. Since you have about a 1 in 5 chance of hitting your flush draw you need to ensure you’re getting pot odds to call.

In order to figure out if you’re getting pot odds you need to see how much your opponent bets. If your opponent bets $10 into a $30 pot then you’re not getting pot odds and the correct play is to fold. If your opponent bets $5 into a $50 pot then you’re getting pot odds and it’s the correct play to call. You also need to take into consideration the style of the player who is betting. If the player is loose then they might be betting top pair to scare everyone out of the pot. In this example the top card is a J, so if they have a pair of jacks and you’re sitting with A/K of spades then it’s worth calling even without the best pot odds. The reason you would want to call is because an A or K could also win you the pot. If the player is generally tight then you will need to consider whether or not they have a straight or trips because if they do you can only improve by hitting your flush. This means you better be getting good pot odds to make the call.

Chasing draws in Holdem is apart of the game, but you need to be able to determine whether or not you should chase any given hand. You definitely can’t chase every draw you have so consider factors like who is betting, how much it will cost you, would you have the nuts and so on.