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 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," Seif said. "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.

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. 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. " 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."

This article is a reprint from the Mercury News. To view the original story, click here.