If you are a keen free online poker player then you may have noticed that sometimes you do some hand chasing, or you may have noticed other players doing it. A bad habit that you will recognise as having analogies in many human pursuits not just poker, especially money and relationship ones!

The definition of chasing is, to play a hand and take the chance of your cards hitting the board, that is to say, play a hand when you are behind.

I always say that I would chase down a parked car, just in the hopes I hit. This could be considered a negative thing, because people just think “Oh, they are just a bad player”.

So a lot of people take advantage of the chaser by betting bigger trying to get them out of pot when they obviously see there is a possible hand the chaser is chasing. But if the chaser is bound and determined to chase he will call the hand.

Many players chase a hand because they are pot committed. This is when they have invested many chips into the hand and chase hoping to hit their prayer, regardless of the consequences.

They say people who do this have a lack of discipline, which means no patience, and in a rush to play the hand. Admittedly, chasing is a bad habit to have when playing poker. It is something that can work out beneficial from time to time, but certainly not something that needs to be played day in day out. With that said I must say that playing a 4/6 versus an AK is thrilling especially when it hits.

If you are a self confessed chaser and find it difficult to stop, try to do it less often by knowing when its time to fold. By chasing too often you can put yourself in a vulnerable position and end up losing. Pick your chase carefully if you want to win.

Whether or not you are a chaser, you will need to learn as much as you can about pot odds when playing any type of poker. This is especially important if you want to move up in the poker world from free online poker to high stakes poker and start to win some big money.