[Phil]

Read my second post, the flush didn't hit the river.Our games been going for about an hour and change, and I'm up 700 and change (not shabby at all for live action 10/20).Look, I'm by no means saying it was a great play to raise utg. But I do like to mix it up for several reasons. I'm raising this hand about 1/4 1/5 of the time from the first 3 positions. By 'this hand' I mean 67s-10Js, some of these being one gapped (97s is now my friends hand, he maanged to make the final 20 of the party poker million because of it).This raise does 2 things:1) If I only raised AQs or better from first position, I would never get action from some of the players at the table. I would miss several small bets from hands that I will have dominated when I raise AKs. If they've seen, maybe just once in a session, that I raised 56s from utg, down the road they will pay me with Q, K, or Ace no kicker several times over.Second, if you've played a lot of limit hold'em or read any of books, you'll know that although hand selection (and unfortunately in this case, position) are important, the major money to be made and the mistakes that add up are the play AFTER the flop. I feel like I've become good enough that I will know where I'm at on the flop -- If I'm up against a bigger flush draw, up against an overpair with just top pair, etc.So in turn, since I've decided I wanted to play, I surely should bring it in for a raise. Anyone calling 2 cold gives me more odds to draw out if need be (especially out of position) and if few call, as described, I also get the chance to "Play the rush" as there is a good chance I may blow someone off the winner heads up since "hes hot right now...probably has me kicked, or my middle pairs no good".Does that answer your question at all?