The textbook play with pocket aces is to raise preflop in hopes of getting heads-up against a good hand that’s not good enough. But established and aggressive pros such as Mark Seif work from their own texts, developing a style that runs counter to conventional thinking.

And sometimes they outthink themselves.

At the World Poker Tour’s $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in 2008, Seif drew aces under the gun. With blinds at $50-$100, Seif chose to just call instead of raise.

“Limping with aces is a standard play for me because it lets me get away with limping under the gun with pocket deuces, 3s, 4s, 5-6 suited,” said Seif, winner of two World Series of Poker bracelets. “It opens up the range of hands that I can play under the gun. That’s a good thing because you want to see a lot of flops early in a tournament, because if you’re fortunate to get a really good flop, you can get a lot of chips, and one of the ways to do that is see a lot of flops instead of waiting for big hands.”

Four other players called, which usually is bad news for aces. The flop came K-K-2, two hearts. Everybody checked.

“I’m not checking here to be coy or set up a check-raise,” Seif said. “I’m checking here because I hate my hand. It’s pretty much lights out unless an ace comes. A king makes me feel a little better because I’d have kings full of aces, and anything other than a king and I’d win.”

The turn came the 3 of hearts.

“So now, I’m going to lose to any flush, I’m going to lose to any king, I’m going to lose to a full house,” Seif said. “I hate this hand.”

And yet, after the big blind checked, Seif bet $800. The player to his left called. Everyone else folded.

The river came the 6 of spades. Seif bet $1,200.

“It was a blocking bet intended to stop my opponent from doing anything other than calling,” Seif said. “I just hoped to get to showdown.”

But his opponent raised to $3,200. Seif folded his aces.

“I lost my first two pots, which were substantial, so I tried to make up for it by trying to get action with my aces,” he said. “I thought the worst thing that could happen was for me to raise it to $300 and have everybody fold. I felt I needed to get chips and try to make up what I’d lost. I ended up playing it for maximum harm.

“What I should’ve done was say this is a long tournament, we have deep stacks ($45,000 in starting chips), a slow structure— play it right, raise with aces like you’re supposed to, define your opponents’ hands, narrow the field, and then it makes your post-flop play better. I deviated from what I should do.”

Table talk

Limp: To call the size of the big blind preflop, usually indicating weakness.