Going first is a huge advantage.  I couldn't understand why players who started a game were making their first move in the corners.  But I can see how it might be a polite thing to do to minimize the advantage white has.

Don't know if this is true, but something else I'm noticing is that once an opponent gets within a certain range of his goal boundary, there's no way to stop him unless he blunders into a mistake.  If there are no supporting pegs already in place and he's not pinched up against the side edge, it seems to me that that magic number is "7" holes from the goal line.  Once there, unless you can get him to walk into a trap or you can drive him toward other pre-placed pegs or spans, you're not stopping him.  Really shrinks the board down.