Four Things I Wish I Knew When Starting Balatro

Balatro, everyone’s new favorite digital heroin, is befuddling some players with one sneaky trick: it looks like poker, but if you play it like poker for very long, you’re going to lose. Fret not, for I, someone who is pretty good at Balatro, am here to help. Here are some important lessons I wish I had known before my missed-bedtime journey.

Tips for Balatro: Respect The Rule of Three

What’s the rule of three? It’s the three very important pillars of a high score: Chips, (+)Mult, and (x)Mult. Let me explain.

Every hand of Balatro, from the most humble of High Cards to the Royalist of Royal Flushes gives you a number of Chips (in blue) and a Multiplier (in red) by which those chips are multiplied. If you focus on one or the other, you’re leaving a lot of points on the table. You can have a Mult of 1,000, but if you’re multiplying it by a low number it isn’t going to yield very high scores. That’s why you want a source of both Chips and/or Mult very early in your run.

Flat Mult is best to focus on in the first Ante or two, then Chips, and then (x) Mult, which will multiply your resulting score by another amount for a new total. For example, if I play a pair for 10×8 Mult as a result of whatever my Jokers are, but I have a Polychrome or other (x) Mult Joker, that 80 points would become 120 points. And this segues nicely into my next tip:

Tips for Balatro: (x) Mult Should Always Come Last in Your Joker Order

Once you have a decent number of Chips and Mult, you’re going to want to multiply the score by whatever (x) Mult sources you have, whether those are Steel Cards or Jokers. If you’re using a (x) Mult Joker, make sure it’s to the very right in your Joker hand. Multiplying a score before it’s done calculating and adding all the flat bonuses is always detrimental to your final Chip count. This is because Mult total is calculated in order before actually multiplying your Chips. Here’s an example in case you don’t believe me:

10×2 (Pair) + 4 Mult (Joker) x1.5 (Some Multiplicative Source) + 20 Mult (Misprint Joker) = 290 Chips

Because we put our x1.5 Joker in the middle of our hand order, we ended up with a measly 29 Mult at the end (2+4) x 1.5 + 20. Now, let’s take the same hand and put the x1.5 Joker at the end of the equation:

10×2 (Pair) + 4 Mult (Joker) + 20 Mult (Misprint Joker) x1.5 (Some Multiplicative Source) = 390 Chips

By waiting until our flat Mult has all added up, we can maximize our score by multiplying it at the end! It’s confusing since it’s all called “Mult,” but PEMDAS doesn’t apply here, so keep those (x) Mult Jokers to the right! If this all sounds a little weird, it’s because Balatro is Not Poker.

Tips for Balatro: Build a Strong Economy Early

Interest is your friend. It gives you an additional dollar for every five dollars you have in your hand at the end of every Blind. But to get enough money to start building interest, we’ll need some good “economy” cards. These could be anything from Midas Mask, which turns your Face Cards into Golden Cards when played, or something as simple as a Temperance card, which gives you the total sell value of your Joker cards.

Always be sure to keep an eye out for Hermit and Temperance cards in the shop. As the Egg Joker himself, Northernlion, would say, “Money’s on sale.”

Once you have a decent cash flow, keep at least $20 on hand. This is for two reasons: one, if you get Director’s Cut Voucher you can re-roll the Boss Blind for $10, potentially saving your run. Two, it’ll net you some juicy interest every round, essentially paying for itself if you’re being choosy about what to buy in the shop.

Tips for Balatro: Don’t Get Discouraged

Remember: no matter how much strategy and forethought you put into these sorts of things, sometimes you’re just dealt a bad hand. If that happens, just send it back and try again. Every once in a while you’ll be back-against-the-wall, biting your nails hoping that last hand is enough to push a boss over the edge. Sometimes it won’t. But with these math freaks out here popping scores so high they’re using scientific notation to display on-screen there’s plenty of room for us Average Jokers to make it work.

Balatro can be unforgiving, even cruel. But the short nature of the runs and potential for builds to completely pop off and breeze through 8 Antes in no time make up for the slight frustrations. Think of every game over as a chance to try something different, or the opportunity to pull a really good Joker. This all might sound similar to gambling addiction, and that’s because it probably is. But hey, better to be having fun with our Jokers in here than blowing our 401k out there, right?