I am new to poker, and to this forum (posted one time before) so my question is likely quite naive. Feel free to refer me to other resources. Apologies also because my poker language is not so advanced.

My question is when to pursue an inside straight draw with middle range cards. Apart from a favorable return from bluffing, the expected value of such a strategy looks bad.

To make my question concrete, I have quoted below a recent post involving an inside straight draw. After the flop, hero has an inside straight draw. He hits if turn and river produce an 8 or 3 and 4. I calculate that the odds against hitting the straight are about 4.5 to 1 (194 2-card draws that hit out of 1081 possible draws). Overall the pot odds are 1 to 1 in heads up. He can only win 1 $ for every $ he bets. I can see situationally, when he gets to the turn and river, the pot odds are better, but he has already invested $ to get to that point after he decided to pursue the draw. Looking forward to later streets at the flop with the small pot, it is close to 1 to 1.

If I have not made a mistake, assuming we win when hitting the straight and loose otherwise, the EV of an inside straight draw is about -0.64$ per $ bet. The situation is more complicated (Hero had to fold after hitting his straight), but that seems to be a good starting point.

How should I think about this? From reading Janda, I am guessing that we pursue the inside straight draw as part of our balanced betting (a semi-bluff), but I am not sure how to work out the details of evaluating the range I "should" be playing after the flop.

Thanks much for any guidance you all can provide.