7 Helpful Strategies for Kickin' Ass in RPS

Tired of always getting your ass handed to you in Rock, Paper, Scissors by your little sister or that friend that you always have to play to see who gets the last ButterFinger? Well here are 7 helpful strategies that will assure a swift victory or at least not an embarrassing defeat.

1. The first strategy was mentioned previously. It state that males are more likely to lead with rock, because it is seen as strong or forceful. The best defense against this is to lead with paper. This only works against inexperienced players.
2. The second strategy works against more experienced opponents who knows not to lead with rock. Instead they will lead with either of the remaining two choices. To maximize one’s chances of not losing, lead with scissors. At best a win will be scored and at the worst, their will be a tie.
3. Strategy number three involves the human psyche. People do not like to be predictable, so if they play two of the same throws in a row, they will realizes this and generally will not play it a third time in a row. To be victorious, play the dominant of the two remaining throws. For example, if the opponent has played rock twice in a row, they will change to either, scissors or paper. Therefore, the player should throw scissors because it will either tie with the opponent’s throw of scissors, or win against the opponent’s throw of paper.
   
4. The next strategy involves the human nature of trust or that is to say, distrust. In this strategy, the player should tell the opponent what they will throw. Then the player will actually throw it. Most likely the opponent will not believe or trust the player. The opponent will not produce the throw that beats your announced throw. The player will now either win or tie. For example, if the player announces they will play rock, the opponent will not play paper, because they believe the player will not play rock. The opponent will play either rock or paper. The player will then throw the announced throw of rock, and will either tie against the opponent’s rock or win against paper.
5. The fifth strategy is a bit more complicated then the previous strategies. This strategy calls for the player to play the throw that would have lost to the opponent’s last throw. Some people subconsciously choose the throw that beat their last throw. This strategy is effective against opponent’s who have lost their last throw. For example, the opponent’s last throw was scissors, the opponent is now more likely to throw rock because rock beats scissors. The player should then throw paper. Paper would have lost to the opponent’s last throw of scissors but, now will win against rock.
6. The sixth strategy involves subconsciously tricking the opponent. This will only work against people who are unfamiliar with the rules of RPS (unfortunately, most people have the basic understanding of the rules of RPS). In this strategy, when the opponent asks to be reminded of the rules, the player adds subconscious cues in the instructions. For example, when the player is explaining the rules of how rock beats scissors, they will make the sign of rock. They will then go on to explain how paper beats rock, again they will make the sign of the rock. They will then mention how scissors beats paper. In the rules that involve rock, showing the opponent the sign of rock, may instill a subconscious cue in the opponent to lead with rock. All the player then has to do is lead with paper, which will defeat rock.
7. The final strategy is one of a last resort. If one has absolutely no idea what to play, they should throw paper. Statistically in competitions, paper is played 29.6% of the time, which is less then the 33.33% that each throw should have. This gives the player a slight advantage and any advantage is welcome, especially in competitions.

So remember...
Ill admit Sony's RPS is awesome.