This is driving me nuts

[TObject]

I've been trying this for almost two hours:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pearl.shtml

It's driving me nuts, I am missing something simple. How do you win this game? I've got work to do.

[Joe Dillard]

There's 3 of us in my office trying to beat that guy now. Tricky huh?

[TObject]

I have a winning combination on my hands, where he started, and lost.

He took three out of the second smallest row, then I took one out of the shortest row.
He took two remaining pearls out of the shortest row, and I took two out of the longest row.
He took two out of the longest row, I took two out of the second longest row.
He took one out of the second longest row, I took one out of the second shortest row.
He took one out of the second longest row again, I took two out of the longest row.
He was left with one pearl in the second longest row.

By saying "second longest", "shortest" I refer to the rows by the number of pearls they originally have at the beginning of the game.

I have to run now, I will try to analyze the data and come up with a winning strategy later.

[TObject]

Damn it, I thought I had a stratedy. I am sitting here with a sheet of paper, and an Excell worksheet. And I won. I was about to post it, but then I decided to win a couple of more times, to make sure the strategy is right, and it is not. Sometimes I win, sometimes not. Oh well, back to the drawing borad.