127 - "Accordian" Patience

#include <cstdio>
#include <string>
#include <stack>
#include <vector>
using namespace::std;

int main()
{
	char str[3];
	vector<stack<string> > cards;
	while(scanf("%s",str))
	{
		if(str[0]=='#') break;
		cards.clear();
		stack<string> card;
		card.push(str);
		cards.push_back(card);
		for(int n=1;n<52;n++)
		{
			scanf("%s",str);
			card.pop();
			card.push(str);
			cards.push_back(card);
		}
		int i=0;
		while(1)
		{
			for(i=0;i<cards.size();i++)
			{
				if(i>=3 && (cards[i].top()[0]==cards[i-3].top()[0] || cards[i].top()[1]==cards[i-3].top()[1]))
				{
					cards[i-3].push(cards[i].top());
					cards[i].pop();
					break;
				}
				if(i>=1 && (cards[i].top()[0]==cards[i-1].top()[0] || cards[i].top()[1]==cards[i-1].top()[1]))
				{
					cards[i-1].push(cards[i].top());
					cards[i].pop();
					break;
				}
			}
			if(i==cards.size())  
				break;  
			if(cards[i].empty())  
			{  
				cards.erase(cards.begin()+i);  
			} 

		}
		if(cards.size()==1) printf("1 pile remaining: 52\n");
		else
		{
			printf("%d piles remaining:",cards.size());
			for(int j=0;j<cards.size();j++)
				printf(" %d",cards[j].size());
			printf("\n");
		}
	}
	return 0;
}

http://uva.onlinejudge.org/index.php?option=com_onlinejudge&Itemid=8&category=103&page=show_problem&problem=63