For those about to Rock, Paper Scissors...We salute you.

by Aime Dunstan
PalmBeachPost.com

Jack Nicklaus. Joe Namath. Andy Roddick.

South Florida is home to many world-class athletes, and second to none is Armando Valverde. At 5-feet-6, weighing in at 170 pounds, the 38-year-old Royal Palm Beacher hopes to make his hometown proud as he prepares for his shot at a national title.

His game? Rock Paper Scissors.

No, we're not kidding.

Also known as Reaux Sham Beaux, Rochambeau or Roshambo, the childhood game of chance will draw 325 finalists and "trainers" from around the country to the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Grand Casino in Las Vegas this weekend, where the second annual 2007 USA Rock Paper Scissors Tournament Finals will be held.

Really, we're not kidding.

The grand prize for the Bud Light-sponsored tournament is $50,000.

"I've been practicing since I was a young boy, and my aspiration is to become the Rock Paper Scissors champion," says Valverde, an AT&T sales executive who began his journey to RPS stardom when he happened upon a regional tournament at Elbo Room in Fort Lauderdale. "I am excited. This is a great opportunity. It's not every day that you get to try and win $50,000 playing a childhood game."

Los Angeles TV producer Matti Leshem co-founded the startlingly official USARPS League in 2005 and serves as its commissioner. He was inspired to bring Rock Paper Scissors to the United States after learning about a similar league in Canada.

"It turns out Americans play a different style of Rock Paper Scissors. It's much more hard core, much more rock 'n' roll, and we're much better at it than the Canadians," Leshem says with deadpan authority, adding that this weekend's tournament will be broadcast on ESPN. "It's really a validation for the sport that they're going to be covering it."

Who will be competing?

"There are literally people from all walks of life. We have lawyers and doctors and retirees," says Leshem. "Sales people — people who talk to a lot of people, they're good at it. They know how to read people."

But their strategy, he says, depends on their school of play. Take the Urbanus Defense, where you lose your first throw intentionally to psych out your opponent. Or Gambit Play, where you stick to a sequence of specific throws regardless of your opponent's actions.

"Like a 'Caveman,' which is rock, rock, rock," Leshem reveals.

But how do you read which of the three options your opponent is going to throw?

"I can't tell you how to do it, I can only tell you what it is. That's like asking Bobby Fischer, 'How did you get that checkmate?'" Leshem scoffs. "If we became friends and you really wanted to play a lot, maybe, but you're a strange voice on the phone, I'm not going to divulge the secrets of Rock Paper Scissors to you."

Told you this is serious.

Valverde, known among elite RPS circles as Rapid-o-Mano, was willing to divulge a bit more. His secret? Lots of Bud Light.

"Normally when I play, I've been in a bar for three hours and I just think of what to shoot," he says. "I have a knack for knowing what the person's going to throw. I just think of what the person's going to throw and I throw the opposite."

And his laid-back demeanor often frustrates his opponents.

"I'm a joker. There were people who were really serious and really into it and I'm like, 'Hey, calm down,' " he says in a slow, comforting tone. "A lot of people want to intimidate you. I think people get too wrapped up and they get too nervous, and having someone who's not as serious as them throws them off their game."

Rapid-o-Mano's wife, Cindy, says she was happy to stay home with their two children — Justin, 9, and Leah, 7, — while he headed to Vegas on Mother's Day weekend to play Rock Paper Scissors and attend an after party sponsored by Maxim magazine.

"I told him he deserves to go out and have fun and we can celebrate Mother's Day another day," she says. "Bring me the money, baby!"

She rocks.