The reti

The Reti is a stable opening which I play if I can,it is a half-gambit( like the queens gambit) it is on;y 1 move but can lead to many variations and is highly strategical.

I like strategery

I recently played a blitz game against a (strong) GM and I opened with the Reti (*edit -- Reti gambit) , and after he destroyed me I had to sit there and listen to him lecture me about "the center" -- and I could only sit there with smoke coming out of my ears thinking -- goddammit you didn't beat me because of the center it's a hypermodern opening and the whole damn idea is to let you have the center and then the plan is I undermine your center...  but your board vision is ten times what mine is and you play ten times more accurately than I do and so I hung a piece to a simple combination -- and it had nothing to do with the center, Grandmaster, if I was Reti you'd have had that same center but you'd have had a much tougher game! Arrgh.

Actually I should mention that when I went home and checked the book on what my better lines were: I should have played MORE on the FLANK! 

I'm cursed to love a game i suck at...

I have a question for you Reti players. I play the English, which obviously shares similarities.

I see that playing Nf3 first prevents black from playing e5, which is the common response to 1. c4. What other advantages do you feel playing Nf3 before c4 brings?