Nothingness: Holes have nothing to with it. Ignoring the three to initiate somewhere else has nothing to do with it either. And I didn't say that with perfect play the first player wins. With perfect play, the first player cannot lose. Regardless of the arrangement of the holes.

What's essential is that all moves are always possible - that is, no move is required for a particular move (as with connect-4 for instance), nor do certain moves prohibit other moves (as for instance with chess). Furthermore, there's never a disadvantage of a move: a stone placed is <em>always</em> better than having no stone on that position. But that means that if there would be a strategy for the second player to win, the first player can adopt that strategy - by just playing a random first move, and then adopting the strategy that gives the win to the second player. Ergo, with perfect play, the second player cannot win.