It's not a bad beat if
1) You had a chance to fold or win the pot early
2) You could have played the hand diffrently
3) You got Greedy
4) You know deep down the guy was capable of doing something stupid but you went ahead with the bet or call on the river.
5) You know whatever he beat you for means nothing to him (example) Your playing a dollar ante game with your friends on a saturday and the guy whos putting beats on your is Rich or Drunk ..... YOU KNOW he does not care if he wins or loses .....Its free will your choosing to gamble with him there will always be better situations to get your money in on.
6) Your already playing on tilt.... If you flop Aces full and some guy catches runner runner runner for quads it's not a bad beat IF HE know's your on tilt because he's gonna call you anyway that's why it's important to keep a cool image at the table.
7) I truly believe in free will if you flop a monster and at the end it's almost the nuts and someone bets into you with the nuts and you call and lose it's not a bad beat you still have the free will to fold and live to fight another day.
math wise folding may be wrong but sometimes deep down you know your beat even when math says to call. The question is do you have the heart to fold when you JUST KNOW your beat.
8) I know i'm beat but I'm calling cause I should is not a excuse I'm sick of hearing people say i know i'm beat but I call..... DAMMIT lay it down
If you get that burst of ESP and know your wasting your money then don't DONT DONT DONT DONT
I'm at a point now where I don't believe in bad beats anymore. 99 % of the time after replaying a hand over and over and over and over in my head I can figure out a way I might have played the hand diffrently and then it's not a bad beat to me anymore.
Yes there is that 1 % like final table heads up guy goes all in KK in front of you and you have AA and you get sucked out on. But really how often does that happen. Think about it.....................