Is holding 2 pearls a good strategy?

[nccc]

?

[FSKFSK]

You mean take 2 peals and hold them most of the game without spending them?

I usually find this to be a bad strategy. The game has just enough no-pearl cards to make pearl hoarding not that viable. If you're hoarding pearls, that means you spent actions taking the pearls, but never used those pearls to improve your engine. It's like you're giving your opponent an extra turn, having wasted two "take gems" actions.

The only negative thing that can happen against a pearl hoarder is that the market can freeze up, where most of the cards on offer require a pearl. In that case, I like to reserve a no-pearl-required card, and then use the gold to buy a pearl card. This frees up the market. If there's no visible no-pearl card, I'd reserve a random card from the deck. The best cards to reserve against a pearl hoarder are the level 2 4/3 "steal a pearl" cards. There's also the "steal a pearl" noble.

Another thing that works against a pearl hoarder is to spend a pearl immediately after you get it. A few turns later, refresh gems and take back the pearl.

At the beginning of the game, taking both pearls isn't worth giving your opponent an extra privilege. In the mid-game or later, I usually will take both pearls if I have the opportunity.

[yuniboshi]

It's strong if you also hold all the gold, and play the game with all gold and pearl dominating the market. If you can't do that, then spending them is faster.

[FSKFSK]

If you hold 2 pearls and 3 gold for the whole game, you're playing with a 5 gem hand compared to 10 for your opponent. There will be enough no-gem cards available that your opponent will be doing things while you're wasting time. You also gave your opponent a 4 turn head start, because you spent 3 turns taking gold and 2 turns taking pearls.

Also, the second you spend a pearl or gold, your opponent can refresh gems and then take a pearl or gold.