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Winning strategy for a matchstick game

The rules of this variant of Nim are as follows: Starting at zero, each player counts up between 1-N numbers. The person that counts a number L loses. N and L are declared at the start of the game by one player, the other player chooses who goes first.

For example, a game where N=2, L=9 might go like this:

P1: 1, 2 P2: 3 P1: 4, 5 P2: 6, 7 P1: 8 

I'm trying to find an algorithm that can win the game for any value of N and L. So far, I've come up with the following.

c = current number     if going first:   while L-c > N:     count n numbers   once L-c <= N:     count (L-c) numbers 

Is there a better way of doing this?

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