(a) We interpret a card showing black as the digit 0 and a card showing gold as the digit 1. Thus each position of the 2009 cards, read from left to right, corresponds bijectively to a nonnegative integer written in binary notation of 2009 digits, where leading zeros are allowed. Each move decreases this integer, so the game must end. (b) We show that there is no winning strategy for the starting player. We label the cards from right to left by $1, \ldots, 2009$ and consider the set $S$ of cards with labels $50 i, i=1,2, \ldots, 40$. Let $g_{n}$ be the number of cards from $S$ showing gold after $n$ moves. Obviously, $g_{0}=40$. Moreover, $\left|g_{n}-g_{n+1}\right|=1$ as long as the play goes on. Thus, after an odd number of moves, the nonstarting player finds a card from $S$ showing gold and hence can make a move. Consequently, this player always wins.