Tunnel vision is a very, very dangerous thing. This problem is probably what is responsible for more car accidents, bankruptcies, and STDs than all the mid-life crises put together. It is also to blame for a fair number of blunders at the poker table as well.
Here is an example of what we mean. Let's say that you're holding an A-6. After the flop and the turn the cards showing on the board are 9-6-9-6. The good news is that you have a Full House. It would be easy to attach to this fact and start betting the mortgage. Take a second and think though, you have an opponent who isn't blinking and is throughout the hand has been following calling every bet and after the flop actually got more aggressive. In this case regardless of how strong you think your hand is, you are probably beat. Chances are that your opponent has a 9 in their hand, and the aggressive behavior after the flop is the clincher on that one.
Your 6-6-6-9-9 full house has been trumped by their probable 9-9-9-6-6 full house. If you get tunnel vision at this point, you will lose the hand, but there are subtle cues that can tell you in similar situations if your opponent is just looking at the board and trying to bluff.
As we said earlier, your opponent acted with aggression after the flop. He was trying to use his trio of 9s to drive everyone out of the hand. Were he trying to bluff, he probably would have acted more passively after the flop. If that were the case, then you could probably justify going for it with your full house.
Good Luck!
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