The most common mistake beginners make at Rock Paper Scissors is opening with Rock. It feels solid. It's a closed fist, which is what your hand already is before the count. It reads as strong. It isn't stronger — all three throws win exactly as often in a balanced game — but Rock isn't a balanced choice in practice, because most other beginners are also throwing Rock. Paper beats Rock. If you're playing against someone who hasn't thought about this at all, open with Paper.
That's the whole beginner strategy in one move, but it only holds for the first throw. After that, both players have revealed something and the game gets more interesting.
After a win, most players tend to repeat the winning throw. After a loss, most players shift — not to whatever would be smart, but to the throw that would have beaten what their opponent just did. Rock loses to Paper: the player shifts to Scissors on the next round. This is the "next throw in the cycle" response, and it's not a calculated move. It's a default. The 2014 Zhejiang University study confirmed this pattern across 72 players in controlled conditions. You don't need to read the study to see it — watch a dozen casual games and you'll spot it.
What this means in practice: after you win, resist the urge to repeat. Your opponent is likely about to throw the thing that beats you. After you lose, don't shift predictably. If you lost with Rock, your opponent may expect you to throw Paper next (the standard loss-response), so they might pre-empt that with Scissors. Throw Rock again. It's counterintuitive, and it works more often than it should.
For a three-rule starting framework: open with Paper, don't automatically repeat after a win, and break the cycle after a loss. These three things won't make you a tournament player, but they'll win you more than your share of casual games against people who haven't thought about any of it.
Beyond patterns, there's the physical side. Commit fully to your throw. An ambiguous reveal — Scissors that looks like a half-open Rock, Paper that's still closing as you show it — creates disputes and signals uncertainty. The goal isn't to be fast. The goal is to be clear and simultaneous on the count. Cadence is the foundation of a fair match. Players who rush or slow their throws in close moments are doing themselves and their opponent a disservice.
If you want to go deeper, the two topics worth studying are win-stay/lose-shift strategy and gambits — pre-planned three-throw sequences that remove in-match hesitation. But for a beginner, the most valuable skill is simply being more deliberate than the average casual player. That bar is lower than you think.