Balatro was launched in early 2024 and quickly became a major obsession for gamers. Now that it’s on your phone, you can bring the productivity killer anywhere. But if you’re new to the game or looking for tips to prepare yourself for a successful run, I’ve got you covered.
Balatro is a mix of poker and diamond where you try to make the best play from the playing cards in your hand. Better poker hands, such as straights and flushes, will score more than pairs. Each round (called “blinds”), players must beat an ever-increasing score threshold, culminating in boss blinds with challenging conditions that can mess with your preferred playstyle.
Players start with a certain amount of hands they can play and a certain amount of discards they can make per round (from one to five cards each, and yes, there ARE situations where it is good to play less than five cards). After a small blind, a big blind and a boss blind, the game will increase to “ante” with higher score thresholds. After eight antes, you’ll win your run, awarding bonuses and unlocking new cards and decks to play in your next run (though you can continue in endless mode until the ninth ante and beyond, with bonuses specific rares only available at higher levels).
As with all card games, the best way to get ahead…is to cheat! Each round you’ll earn money, which you can spend between rounds to buy Jokers, which can drastically increase your total scores when playing with your hands. You can also buy Plan cards that improve the number of results of each type of hand, tarot cards that embellish the cards in your existing deck, and vouchers that provide permanent upgrades (such as increasing the number of hands and blind throws).
That sounds complicated, but Balatro’s excellent design makes it quickly clear how all these systems work together to increase your score to beat the toughest blinds — though it helps to keep some best practices in mind. good for setting up successful runs. There’s method to the madness, and after a few games, you’ll get the hang of it. Here are 5 tips for winning a Balatro run.
To see what your poker hands will score, tap or click the Run Info button at the bottom left of the screen to get this info screen.
Know your poker hands
Knowing your poker hands is the most basic but important factor in beating Balatro. Familiarize yourself with the traditional hand hierarchy, as the higher-scoring hands — flushes, straights, fours, and so on — are worth the risk of chasing in many situations. For some score thresholds, discarding consecutive pairs won’t cut it.
But be strategic when chasing those high-rolling hands, as you may run out of them before you find the perfect hand, forcing you to play whatever you draw. Always look at the cards in your hand to see if there is a less valuable combination to play that can save your precious discards. Switch between “rank” and “suit” when arranging cards in your hand to get combinations you may have missed.
And if you run out of discards but still have plenty of hands, just play what you would have discarded — it’ll be a worthless hand, but better to strategically hold what you need and get some points from a card of high or low pair while chasing a more valuable hand that will get you out of the squeeze.
When you start a run, let the Jokers available shape your playstyle.
At first, let the Jokers determine your run
Jokers are the heart of Balatro, dramatically changing the way you play, and you’re likely to discover your own favorites that suit your ideal playing hands. But chances are you won’t see them pop up in stores every run.
You’ll have to make do with what appears in stores or on packages — because if you wait too long, the blind thresholds will exceed your unmodified hand score. You can survive the first ante without improving anything, but it is wise to start picking Jokers from the second ante.
Don’t worry about assembling a perfect lineup of Jokers right from the start. In fact, it helps to experiment, as you’ll find that they reinforce each other in unexpected ways. On a successful run, I got a Joker that raised face cards (king, queen, jack); Soon after, I found a Joker being treated all of them cards like face cards. Other, more complex synergies will surprise you, so don’t be afraid to take Jokers for a few more rounds to see how they improve your score or open your eyes to new playstyles. Lackluster Jokers can always be sold later (and you’ll get unlock rewards for buying Jokers too).
Another in-store offer that will drastically improve your odds are Coupons, although some are more useful than others. Improve your hand size, number of hands and number of folds to give yourself more cushion for bad draws and difficult boss blinds.
Be strategically frugal
Money rules everything around you in Balatro: you’ll need it to buy Jokers, vouchers and bonus packs of tarot cards, plans and standards.
You win money each round by beating the blinds (usually paying somewhere between $3 and $6), getting $1 per hand to play and $1 in interest earned on the $5 you have when you start the round (winning up to a maximum of $25 ). Interest is where you will earn your trust money, so try to keep some cash on hand for passive income.
You’ll still need to spend money on Jokers and card booster packs, so don’t hesitate if you see something that can really boost your score. Remember, you’ll win $1 per hand you don’t need to play, so scoring more to win rounds with minimal hands is an investment with future winnings.
There are other ways to earn money, including certain Jokers like Golden or Rocket Jokers that simply reward you with cash each round, or the Egg Joker that you keep as long as it earns sell value. Other Jokers have more complex ways to earn money based on how you play. Or there are tarot cards like the Hermit or Temperance that earn you money, while attaching a golden seal to a standard card will earn you money every time it is played and scored.
Just like in real life, the trick is to make your money work for you. Get some cash early to let it earn interest and you’ll be in the late game (tip: get the Seed Money coupon to max it out at $50).
Note the high multiplier values on the left: Chips in blue and Mult in red. When they’re on fire like this, it means that only this hand exceeds the blind score threshold.
In the middle of the game, plan for the endgame
By the third or fourth ante, you should have a good starting set of Jokers that inform your game strategy going forward. From the fifth or sixth ante, you should start preparing for the end game.
This is when it helps to understand the essence of how Balatro marks hands and how best to raise with increasing blind thresholds. Each hand has two factors: Chips and Mult, which you’ll see styled as #x#. For starters, a simple pair will mark a base of 10 Chips times 2 Mult, or 10×2. Even if you play three more unrelated cards, only the pair will score. Marked cards add their value to the chip total, so a pair of eights will score 26 (10 + 8 + 8) x 2, or 52.
Many factors drive these numbers up, and confounding factors can make it difficult to predict how much a hand will be worth. The long and short of it is that you’ll want to increase both sides of the equation by getting Jokers and improving your deck so that your chips and sums increase.
The secret to reaching millions of points in a single hand? Jokes and cards that multiply Mult. You’ll see these on Jokers with text that might say x2 Mult instead of +Mult. Get a few of these Jokers out in a row and watch your score grow exponentially. Note that you can also get this effect in other ways, such as with a Steel card that gives 1.5x Mult when held.
Celestial packs give planet cards. Choose one to improve how much a hand scores in Chips and Mult.
Buy planet cards early, buy planet cards often
Even if you keep your eyes open for good Jokers, you’ll have other ways to use the numbers to your advantage. The best and most reliable way to do this is to buy planet cards. These come in booster packs that you can buy in the store, which let you choose from a random set, so don’t be surprised if you don’t get the same one every time.
Each planet card improves a single hand, improving its Chip and Mult value, with rarer hands receiving larger improvements. For example, upgrading the modest pair to the second level will add 15 Chips and 1 Mult, for a total of 25×3. Four of a Kind at level one is 60×7, and upgrading it to level two increases it to 90×10 — not that you’ll be drawing them often, as a basic 52-card deck will serve you that rare hand about 0.03% of the time, compared to an over 42% chance of drawing a pair.
Getting planet cards for suitable hands for your Jokers is a smart move, so invest in them as you see them. But it’s also smart to buy planet cards for other hands. Chances are you’ll run out of luck while chasing a high-risk, high-reward hand and you’ll want a backup plan. If you’re stuck playing a pair or three of a kind, you’ll feel more confident knowing you’ve given them some upgrades to get you out of the jam.
There are other ways to increase your score that require a little more finesse, and they include the other types of boosters you can choose. The standard booster adds more playing cards to your deck, which can tip the odds in your favor if you’re hunting for certain hands. But they often come in special varieties that give more Chips or Mult, or have other abilities. If you can, get Steel cards that add 1.5x Mult to your total if you keep the card in your hand.
Tarot cards offer a variety of effects, including turning your cards back into the same suit (great for Flush decks) as well as upgrading cards to give more Chips and Mults or even turning them into wild cards that count like any suit, but Chariot’s card is the standout, turning a card into a Steel version. Pack your deck with enough of these and they’ll lift your score into the stratosphere.
Last are the Spectral boosters, which have powerful effects, including destroying cards to fill your deck with random enhanced cards or even giving you the most powerful of Jokers.
But until you learn which Tarot and Spectral cards to shoot for, Planet cards are the most reliable way to steadily increase your score as you complete your Joker lineup. Keep improving your setup and you’ll reach the eight-hand win in no time.