[viennagreen]

i don't know if we are operating with the same working definition of "bad beat"

i use "bad beat" to describe when i get my money in with the best hand, and lose....

there are many times when i think that i probably have the best hand, but i fold anyway... but i never think of it as trying to "avoid a bad beat"--- it's usually due to factors like relative chip stack sizes and such...

when your chip stack and chip position is such that you must steal blinds in order to survive/make-the-money, any strategy which includes "avoiding bad beats" is ridiculous, in my opinion it is just another way of saying "playing scared"...

so--- you might be right--- i might not understand what you mean by "avoiding bad beats"... please explain this concept.