I'll have to look at Axel Smith's book. I've been liking 1.Nf3, 2.b3. The early e3 seems somewhat committal: delaying it leaves options that the light-squared bishop might go to g3.

Those e3 QID lines are fascinating, though. I played them a few times in cc: really liked White's play...

Yes, from what I understand, e3 Poison is written with the specific purpose of exploring your question regarding move orders to reach the generic set-up you mentioned.

I've been bashing around with a variety of ways of getting to a fairly standard position for White: pawns on b3, c4, d4, & e3; knights on f3 & c3; bishops on b2 & e2; queen on c2, etc. The recent fun has involved starting with 1.Nf3, 2.b3 or, simply, 1.b3. I don't pretend that White has any tangible advantage here, beyond the fact that White's plan is pretty clear and relatively easy to play.

This morning at Innsbruck, Tarlev-Huber began 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 and acquired the same set-up. Of course, White can also get there via 1.c4 and, frequently, though less reliably, from 1.d4. I doubt this has any great theoretical value, but is there a particular move order that tends to push Black into a less desirable set-up? Does anyone have any strong feelings or preferences?