5 Things to Know to Beat Your First Balatro Run

Balatro launched early in 2024 and quickly became a top obsession for gamers. Now that it's on phones, you can bring the productivity killer anywhere. But if you're new to the game or looking for tips to set yourself up for a successful run, I've got you covered.

Balatro is a mix of poker and solitaire where you try to make the best play out of the playing cards in your hand. Better poker hands, like 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 style of play.

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's good to play fewer than five cards). After a small blind, a big blind and a boss blind, the game will increase in "ante" with higher score thresholds. After eight antes, you'll win your run, awarding bonuses and unlocking new cards and decks to play with on your next run (though you can keep going in Endless Mode to the ninth ante and beyond, with specific rare rewards only available in the higher levels).

As with all card games, the best way to get ahead…is to cheat! Each round you'll earn cash, which you can spend between rounds to buy Jokers, which can drastically amp up your score totals when playing hands. You can also buy Planet cards that improve how much each type of hand scores, tarot cards that spice up cards in your existing deck and vouchers that offer permanent improvements (like increasing the amount of hands and discards per blind).

That sounds complex, but Balatro's excellent design makes it quickly clear how all these systems work together to ramp up your scoring to beat the toughest blinds -- though it helps to keep some best practices in mind to set up successful runs. There are methods to the madness, and after a few playthroughs, you'll get the hang of it. Here are 5 tips to win a Balatro run.

Know your poker hands

Knowing poker hands is the most basic yet important factor in beating Balatro. Familiarize yourself with the traditional hierarchy of hands, as the hands that score higher -- flushes, straights, four-of-a-kinds, and so on -- are worth the risk to chase in many situations. For some score thresholds, throwing down successive pairs won't cut it.

But be strategic when chasing those high-rolling hands, as you may run out of discards before finding the perfect hand, cornering you into playing whatever you draw. Always look at the cards in your hand to see if there's a less valuable combination to play that can preserve your precious discards. Toggle between "rank" and "suit" when arranging cards in your hand to pick up on combos you may have overlooked.

And if you run out of discards but still have plenty of hands, just play what you would have discarded -- it'll be a junk hand, but better to strategically keep what you need and get a few points off a high card or low pair while chasing a more valuable hand that'll get you out of a squeeze.

At the start, let Jokers define your run

Jokers are the heart of Balatro, dramatically changing how you play, and you'll likely discover your own favorites that suit your ideal hands to play. But odds are, you won't see them pop up in shops every run. 

You'll have to make do with what appears in shops or in packs -- because if you wait too long, blind thresholds will outpace your unmodified hand scoring. You can survive the first ante without upgrading anything, but it's wise to start picking up Jokers by the second ante.

Don't worry about assembling a perfect lineup of Jokers from the start. In fact, it helps to experiment, as you'll find they amplify each other in unexpected ways. On one successful run, I got a Joker that boosted face cards (king, queen, jack); soon after, I found a Joker that treated all cards as face cards. Other, more complex synergies will surprise you, so don't be afraid to pick up Jokers for even a couple rounds to see how they improve your scoring or open your eyes to new playstyles. Lackluster Jokers can always be sold later (and you'll get unlock rewards for acquiring Jokers, too).

The other offering in the shop that will drastically improve you odds are Vouchers, though some are more immediately helpful than others. Improve your hand size, number of hands and number of discards to give yourself more cushion for bad draws and tough boss blinds.

Be strategically frugal

Cash does rule everything around you in Balatro: you'll need it to buy Jokers, vouchers and bonus packs of tarot, planet and standard cards. 

You earn cash every round by beating blinds (typically awarding somewhere between $3 and $6), getting $1 per hand left to play and $1 of interest gained per $5 you have when you start the round (earning up to a maximum of $25). Interest is where you'll make your dependable 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 hold back if you see something that could really ramp up your scoring. Remember, you'll earn $1 per hand you don't need to play, so scoring higher to win rounds with minimal hands is an investment with future earnings. 

There are other ways to make money, including certain Jokers like the Golden or Rocket Jokers that simply award you cash every round, or the Egg Joker that you hold on to while it gains sell value. Other Jokers have more complex ways of earning cash based on how you play. Or there are Tarot cards like the Hermit or Temperance that earn you cash, while attaching a golden seal to a standard card will earn money whenever it's played and scores.

Like in real life, the trick is to make your money work for you. Get a chunk of cash early to let it earn interest and you'll be set into the late game (tip: pick up the Seed Money voucher to upgrade that maximum to $50).

In the midgame, plan for the end

By the third or fourth ante, you should have a good starting set of Jokers that inform your play strategy going forward. By the fifth or sixth ante, you should start preparing for the endgame.

This is when it helps to understand the nitty-gritty of how Balatro scores hands and how best to scale up as the blind thresholds increase. Each hand has two factors: Chips and Mult (multiple), which you'll see styled as #x#. For starters, a simple pair will score a baseline of 10 Chips times 2 Mult, or 10x2. Even if you play three other unrelated cards, only the pair will score. Scored cards add their value to the chip total, so a pair of eights will score 26 (10 + 8 + 8) x 2, or 52. 

Lots of factors ramp up these numbers, and the dizzying factors can make it hard to anticipate 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, getting Jokers and upgrading your deck of cards so that chips and mult are increased. 

The secret to reaching millions of points in a single hand? Jokers and cards that multiply the Mult. You'll see these in Jokers with text that might say x2 Mult rather than +Mult. Get several of these Jokers to go off in succession and watch your score exponentially rise. Note that you can also get this effect other ways, like with a Steel card that gives 1.5x Mult when held in hand.

Buy planet cards early, buy planet cards often

Even as you keep your eyes peeled for good Jokers, you'll have other ways to juice the numbers in your favor. The best, and most reliable way to do this is to buy planet cards. These come in booster packs you can buy in the shop which let you pick from a random set, so don't be surprised if you don't get the same one every time.

Each planet card upgrades a single hand, improving its Chip and Mult value, with rarer hands getting bigger upgrades. For instance, upgrading the humble pair to level two will add 15 Chips and 1 Mult, for a total of 25x3. Four of a Kind at level one is 60x7, and upgrading it to level two boosts that to 90x10 -- not that you'll draw those often, as a base 52-card deck will serve you that rare hand around 0.03% of the time, compared to an over 42% chance to draw a pair.

Picking up planet cards for the hands suited to your Jokers is a smart move, so invest in those as you see them. But it's also smart to buy planet cards for other hands. Odds 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 safer knowing you've given them a few upgrades to get you out of a jam.

There are other ways to boost your score that take a little more finesse, and they involve the other kinds of boosters you can pick up. The Standard booster adds more playing cards to your deck, which can tip the odds in your favor if you're gunning for certain hands. But they're often offered in special varieties that give more Chips or Mult, or have other abilities. If you can, pick up Steel cards that add 1.5x Mult to your total if the card is held in your hand.

Tarot cards offer a variety of effects, including turning your cards into the same suit (great for Flush decks) as well as enhancing cards to give more Chips and Mult or even turn them into wild cards that count as any suit, but the Chariot card is the standout, turning a card into a Steel version. Pack your deck with enough of these and they'll ratchet 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 of steadily increasing your score as you finalize your Joker lineup. Keep improving your setup and you'll cruise to the eight-ante win in no time.