Balatro is a poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder developed by LocalThunk and published by Playstack. You play poker hands to score Chips, beat rising score targets across eight Antes, and bend the rules with Jokers, Planet cards, Tarot cards, and Vouchers. This guide covers what new players most need for a first win on the default White Stake, using version 1.0.1o.
It borrows poker hands and scoring, but you never place bets; the ESRB rates it E10+ (Gambling Themes) and PEGI rates it 12.
Quick answer: Every hand scores Chips × Mult, so buy a Joker that adds Mult as early as you can; even the basic $2 Joker adds +4 Mult. End rounds holding $25 or more to collect the maximum $5 of interest. Level the one or two hands you play most with Planet cards, and check each Ante’s Boss Blind before you play its Small Blind. Keep +Mult Jokers to the left of ×Mult Jokers, because scoring resolves left to right.
How a Run Works
A run has eight Antes, and each Ante has three blinds in order: a Small Blind, a Big Blind, and a Boss Blind. You can skip the Small or Big Blind to take a Tag, but the Boss Blind must always be played. Beat the Ante 8 Boss Blind to win the run, then keep going in Endless Mode if you like.
Each round, your hand fills up to 8 cards by default, and you get 4 hands and 3 discards. Select up to five cards to play a hand, or up to five cards to discard and redraw. If you use every hand without reaching the target, the run is over. After each win you cash out, visit the Shop, and pick your next blind.
| Ante | Small Blind (base score) | Big Blind (1.5x) | Most Boss Blinds (2x) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 300 | 450 | 600 |
| 2 | 800 | 1,200 | 1,600 |
| 3 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 4,000 |
| 4 | 5,000 | 7,500 | 10,000 |
| 5 | 11,000 | 16,500 | 22,000 |
| 6 | 20,000 | 30,000 | 40,000 |
| 7 | 35,000 | 52,500 | 70,000 |
| 8 | 50,000 | 75,000 | 100,000 |
A few Boss Blinds break the 2x rule: The Wall needs 4x the base score, The Needle needs only 1x but gives you a single hand, and the Ante 8 Violet Vessel needs 6x. Green Stake and higher raise these targets.
How Scoring Works
Your score for a hand is Chips × Mult. Chips come from the poker hand’s base value plus each scoring card: Aces give 11, face cards give 10, and number cards give their number. Mult starts at the hand’s base value, then Jokers and card effects add to it or multiply it.
| Poker hand | Base Chips × Mult | Planet card | Per level |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Card | 5 × 1 | Pluto | +10 Chips, +1 Mult |
| Pair | 10 × 2 | Mercury | +15 Chips, +1 Mult |
| Two Pair | 20 × 2 | Uranus | +20 Chips, +1 Mult |
| Three of a Kind | 30 × 3 | Venus | +20 Chips, +2 Mult |
| Straight | 30 × 4 | Saturn | +30 Chips, +3 Mult |
| Flush | 35 × 4 | Jupiter | +15 Chips, +2 Mult |
| Full House | 40 × 4 | Earth | +25 Chips, +2 Mult |
| Four of a Kind | 60 × 7 | Mars | +30 Chips, +3 Mult |
| Straight Flush | 100 × 8 | Neptune | +40 Chips, +4 Mult |
Only the cards that form the hand score; a Pair played with three extra cards scores just the Pair. The highest hand always counts, so four 9s and a 2, all Diamonds, is a Four of a Kind, never a Flush. Select cards before playing to preview the hand name above the score.
For Ante 1, a Flush can clear 300 in one hand. With a King, Queen, 9, 7, and 5 of one suit, you get (35 + 41) × 4 = 304.
Essential Tips
1. Buy a Mult Joker First
Winning with no Jokers is very hard, so spend early money on one that adds score right away; even the basic Joker adds +4 Mult for $2. The first Shop of every run includes a Buffoon Pack offering a choice of Jokers.
2. Pick a Main Hand and Level It
Planet cards level up one poker hand for the rest of the run, with no cap. Open Run Info to see how often you play each hand, and put your Planets into that hand instead of spreading them around. Levels reset at the start of each new run.
3. Keep a Backup Hand Type
Some Boss Blinds debuff a whole suit, all face cards, or cards you already played this Ante. If you rely on one hand, one bad boss can end the run. Leveling a second hand, such as Full House alongside Three of a Kind, gives you another way to score.
4. Win in Fewer Hands
Each hand you have left at Cash Out pays $1. Use discards to find a strong hand before spending hands, and aim to finish early rounds in one or two plays.
5. Use Spare Card Slots as Free Discards
When your hand needs fewer than five cards, add unwanted cards to it. They do not score, but they leave your hand and get replaced, saving a real discard. This does not work with five-card hands like a Flush or Straight.
6. Check Your Deck Before Discarding
Hover over or click the deck at the bottom right to see which cards remain. Your deck never reshuffles during a round, so if you hold four Hearts, check how many Hearts are left before you chase the Flush.
7. Thin Your Deck, But Not Too Far
Removing weak cards, for example with The Hanged Man Tarot (destroys up to two cards), helps you draw your best cards more often. Stop before your deck gets tiny: running out of cards mid-round ends the run.
8. Buy “Not Discovered” Items Early
Items you have never owned show Not Discovered in the Shop. Buying them grows your Collection, which unlocks new decks. Seeded runs do not record discoveries.
Jokers and Scoring Order
Most decks give you five Joker slots. Jokers and scored cards both trigger left to right, so drag Jokers into the right order.
- Put +Mult before ×Mult. A hand worth 40 × 4 with a +4 Mult Joker on the left and a ×2 Mult Joker on the right scores 40 × ((4 + 4) × 2) = 640. Swap them and it scores 40 × ((4 × 2) + 4) = 480.
- Order played cards the same way. Put Mult Cards to the left of Glass Cards so the multiplier applies to more Mult.
- Balance your Jokers. Aim for at least one Chips Joker, one +Mult Joker, and one ×Mult Joker rather than stacking only one kind.
- Secure scoring before scaling. Jokers that grow over time, and many ×Mult Jokers, start weak. Make sure you can clear the next blinds before buying them.
- Know the editions. Foil adds +50 Chips, Holographic adds +10 Mult, Polychrome gives ×1.5 Mult, and Negative adds a Joker slot, so it does not take up space.
Selling a Joker returns half its price, rounded down. When your slots are full, sell your weakest Joker to make room for a clear upgrade.
Money, Interest, and the Shop
| Income at Cash Out | Amount |
|---|---|
| Small Blind | $3 ($0 on Red Stake and higher) |
| Big Blind | $4 |
| Boss Blind | $5 ($8 for the Ante 8 boss) |
| Each unused hand | $1 |
| Interest | $1 per $5 held, up to $5 at $25 |
You start most runs with $4. Once your scoring is stable, try to end every round with at least $25; anything above that earns no extra interest unless you buy the Seed Money or Money Tree Vouchers, which raise the cap to $10 and $20.
Each Shop offers two cards, two Booster Packs, and one Voucher. Rerolling replaces the two cards for $5, rising $1 per reroll and resetting in the next Shop; it never restocks packs or the Voucher. Vouchers usually cost $10, last the whole run, and restock after each Boss Blind.
Normal and Jumbo packs let you take one card; Mega packs let you take two, and you can skip any pack. Arcana and Spectral packs deal you a hand to use their cards on, and you can use Tarots you already hold before choosing. Useful Tarots include The Hermit (doubles your money, up to $20), Temperance (pays your Jokers’ total sell value, up to $50), The Empress (two Mult Cards), and The Hierophant (two Bonus Cards).
Good early Vouchers include Clearance Sale (25% off cards and Booster Packs in the Shop), Telescope (Celestial Packs always include your most played hand’s Planet), and Blank, since redeeming it 10 times unlocks Antimatter, which adds a Joker slot.
Boss Blinds, Skips, and Tags
The Boss Blind for the current Ante is visible from the start of the Ante, with its effect under its icon. If you play a hand its rule forbids, the hand scores nothing.
| Boss Blind | Effect | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The Psychic | Must play 5 cards | Pad smaller hands with filler cards |
| The Water | Start with 0 discards | Use spare card slots to cycle cards |
| The Needle | Play only 1 hand | Discard aggressively, then play your best hand once |
| The Mouth | Play only 1 hand type | Commit to your most leveled hand |
| The Club, Goad, Window, Head | Debuffs Clubs, Spades, Diamonds, or Hearts | Switch to your backup hand |
| The Plant | Debuffs face cards | Build hands from number cards and Aces |
To dodge a bad boss, skip a blind when it offers the Boss Tag, which rerolls the Boss Blind. The Director’s Cut and Retcon Vouchers also reroll Boss Blinds, and the Luchador and Chicot Jokers can disable their effects.
Skipping a blind gives a Tag, but costs that round’s cash-out, its Shop, and a chance to grow your Jokers, so avoid skipping several blinds in one run. Skip only for a Tag clearly worth more, such as the Charm Tag (free Mega Arcana Pack), Coupon Tag (free cards and packs in the next Shop), Investment Tag ($25 after the next Boss Blind), or Economy Tag (doubles your money, up to $40). There are 24 Tags, and 15 can appear in Ante 1.
Decks and Stakes for New Players
| Deck | Effect | Unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Red Deck | +1 discard every round | Available from the start |
| Blue Deck | +1 hand every round | Discover 20 items |
| Yellow Deck | Start with an extra $10 | Discover 50 items |
| Green Deck | $2 per unused hand, $1 per unused discard, no interest | Discover 75 items |
| Black Deck | +1 Joker slot, -1 hand every round | Discover 100 items |
The Yellow Deck is a strong pick for a first win, because the extra money buys Jokers, Tarots, and Planets sooner. The other ten decks unlock by winning runs.
There are eight Stakes (difficulties), and each adds its rule on top of the last: Red removes the Small Blind reward, Green raises score targets, Black lets the Shop offer Eternal Jokers that cannot be sold or destroyed, and Blue removes a discard. You unlock each deck’s next Stake by winning with that deck on its highest unlocked Stake, so every deck starts on White Stake.
Controls and Settings
- PC: left-click to select, hold and drag to reorder cards or Jokers, right-click to deselect every selected card, and hold
Rto restart on the same deck and Stake. - Consoles: Play Hand and Discard are on-screen buttons. Use L1/R1 (PlayStation), LB/RB (Xbox), or L/R (Switch) to buy, use, and sell cards.
- Mobile: tap to select, and hold and drag to move cards.
If suits are hard to tell apart, turn on High Contrast Cards. You can also turn down screen shake and CRT Bloom. First-time players get a tutorial run with Jimbo, and runs save automatically so you can continue later.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Spending every dollar in every Shop. Get a scoring Joker first, then build toward $25 so interest pays you each round.
- Putting a ×Mult Joker left of a +Mult Joker. Move ×Mult Jokers to the right.
- Skipping blinds by habit. Each skip costs a Shop, a cash-out, and Joker growth.
- Playing a four-card hand into The Psychic. Add a fifth card or the hand scores zero.
- Spreading Planet cards across every hand. Level the hand you actually play.
- Discarding without checking your deck. Count the remaining suits or ranks first.
- Thinning your deck too hard. Running out of cards mid-round ends the run.
- Building around one suit with no backup. A suit-debuff boss can stop you cold.
Summary
| Category | Top Tip |
|---|---|
| Scoring | Score is Chips × Mult; buy a Mult Joker first |
| Hands | Level your main hand with Planets and keep a backup |
| Joker order | +Mult on the left, ×Mult on the right |
| Money | End rounds at $25 or more for $5 interest |
| Bosses | Read the Boss Blind at the start of each Ante |
| Decks | Try the Yellow Deck for a first win on White Stake |
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Sources
11referencesReference material consulted while researching this Balatro guide.
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