Balatro: Tips For Beginners

Last Updated on 24 February, 2024

Deckbuilding fans are going crazy with the release of Balatro. The Poker-themed card game has captivated fans and sold over 250,000 copies in the first 72 hours of release. With so many players on board, it’s only fitting that we do a beginners’ guide on this game. So, check out our Balatro tips for beginners to help you get better at the game.

How Is Balatro Played?

Balatro is a roguelike deckbuilding game that’s based on the core mechanics of Poker. In short, you have to create the best possible hand out of 5 cards in order to score huge points. At the start of the round, you will be dealt 8 cards. You will play 4 hands and 3 discards. These numbers may vary depending on modifiers and the deck you choose. The score is determined by the blue box containing chips multiplied by the red box containing a mult. Each hand has its own predetermined value. Every single card (like a King) has its own numerical value as well which adds to the value of the chips.

Each round you will be given a score that you have to beat. In the first small blind, the score is 300. The quicker you beat a blind, the more money you will get as you receive $1 per remaining hand. Each ante will have three blinds. While the first two blinds are skippable, you cannot skip the boss blind. Skipping blinds will give you a reward called a tag. Consider this as a trade-off for not earning cash from playing that blind nor having the opportunity to visit the shop after the game. The shop becomes available whenever you beat a blind. The ultimate goal of the game is to make it past a certain number of antes. There is a total of 16 antes listed in the game for now. If you can complete the set amount antes, then you will complete the run.

Tips for Balatro Beginners

We have compiled a list of tips that beginner players can integrate to improve their playstyle and overall gameplay:

UI Tips

1. Hop into settings and turn on High Contrast Cards to make your cards pop more.
2. Play around with the Screen shake and CRT settings to your comfort zone.
3. Balatro has support for consoles and handhelds so if you have multiple devices, buy it on your preferred device.

Shortcuts

1. If you’re in the middle of a run but you’re not really enjoying it or don’t think it’s going anywhere, just hold R to begin a fresh run.
2. If you are playing a hand and have selected a few cards but want to deselect all of them, you don’t have to do so by clicking them individually. Just press your right-click mouse button and it will deselect all of the cards for you.

Gameplay

1. While you don’t need to be a pro Poker player, knowing the basics of Poker will surely help you out in the game. At least try to know stuff like what a straight, a flush, or a full house is.
2. For the small blind, aim for a full house. You can also go for a straight or flush with cards that equate to a lot of chips.
3. Doing a bit of mental maths before you play a hand always helps to somewhat have an idea of the outcome.
4. When done with a blind, carefully check out the Jokers up for grabs in the shop and find out whether the Jokers up for grabs complement and synergize the existing Jokers in your run.
5. Think twice before you go for a discard. Ideally, you might want to have more or less equal number of discards. Sometimes you can play a number of cards that amount to zero points as a discard. But only do this if you can easily meet the score with the remaining number of hands.
6. Following up on the previous tip, check the cards remaining on the deck, apply some probability, and try to guess the odds of landing cards of a particular suite or number(s) before you discard. This is something you must always do when you aim for a strategy where you discard a few cards in the hope of playing a flush or a straight.
7. Don’t shy away from rerolling Joker cards for $5 as you start to accumulate more money.
8. You may run out of cards in your runs and there will be no reshuffle, unlike many other roguelike deckbuilders. So, keep a keen eye on your deck during the runs.

Let us know if these beginner tips on Balatro are helping you out on your runs. Balatro is currently available on Steam for $6.99. Be sure to pick it up to hop in the latest buzzing card game of the town.