Where do you start? The middle, doesn't work for me. I do best leaving the top open. I usually get stuck with 4 pegs though.
I've won starting from the corners, the middle and along the edges. The middle seems the hardest. More often than not, two pegs mock me at the end of a game. I suppose one could analyze it and take all the fun out of idling away my Cracker Barrel wait time, but that would be too much like counting cards.