[Zeno]

"it was like my brain was saying one thing and my hands just weren't listening. It was weird. "

This can happen. Your post remains me of a pot-limit hand that I goofed-up because of the same phenomenon. I call it the Mind/Body problem. I flushed away about $1000 betting the turn and river when checking and calling on the turn and checking and folding on the river was in order. In fact my mind was saying, " you better check” and “you need to check and fold” as my hands tossed in all those bills. I think my subconscious instincts were overwhelmed or blocked by automatic motor functions. It was as if “ I” (the real me) was watching someone else do the betting and “I” was just an observer.

This Mind/Body problem may occur when you are under “stress” by intensely thinking about your opponent, his hand, the board cards, what to bet and so on. Can be a very costly thing to happen. To counteract this phenomenon you must slow down and break up your thoughts, change the pattern that you are in. Hitting yourself in the head with a hammer would work also but is a little drastic.

-Zeno