How the hell is this game this hard for what appears to be specifically me.

[ALLRIOT]

I have 14 hours. It took 8 hours to even win once by the smallest margin possible under extreme luck. One friend beat the game in like 2-4 hours, getting millions of points at once. He then beat red at 4-6 hours. My other friend beat the game in 2 hours with 1 million points after playing it on psn a bit. Then I talked to another friend, who told me that my best hand of like 20k at the time was just a regular hand. Which is great when it took like four hours to get there and four hours to surpass.

My current stats: https://imgur.com/a/AbZKckM

[ALLRIOT]

Any time I have a free win, still somehow lose it. If I need a flush, the last card in my deck will be the one i need. If I need a joker, I will never get it until the start of the next run. If I do get the joker I need, I still lose. If I am lucky, I lose. If I am unlucky, I lose.

[Mr. Tact]

It is a matter of learning how all the facets of the game interact with each other. It is definitely an "easy to play, difficult to master" type of game. I played for 20 hours before getting a win. Others claim to have take much longer. As far as jokers you "need", this early in your Balatro career you shouldn't be looking for any specific joker. You should be playing the run based on the Jokers you are getting.

Also critically important is building an economy -- ie getting a Joker which will generate money. More money, means buying more Tarots, Planet Cards, Vouchers, and more packs. You earn $1 of interest for every $5 you hold, initially up to $25 (it can be raised through vouchers, but don't worry about that now). Your goal should be to get over $25 and don't spend under it. That way each round you get a "free" $5.

Try not to get frustrated, the game simply takes time to learn. It is similar to chess in that, in under 15 minute I could teach you how to play chess. But it takes years and years to master. (although Balatro doesn't take years... :D)

[Kryzz]

economy importance can't be overstated. even if you have to restart for a $25 skip early on and only spend money over your interest cap, you should insure you have more money coming in than going out as much as possible.
you've probably heard a lot already about joker order but its fundamentally important. with most decks you'll want chip jokers, initial mult jokers and then x mult jokers and you should put the x mult jokers last so that it all gets multiplied at the end. once you have your hand of choice leveled up enough (and fixed your deck with tarot cards/card packs to make those hands easy enough to play) you can start replacing the chip and initial mult jokers with more x mult jokers.

[Mr. Tact]

One of the often overlooked aspects are the card enhancements. Having Lucky, Mult, Glass, etc. cards in your hand can dramatically increase scoring. Seals especially are often over looked, since they can be difficult to get. But having a few purple seals so you have a frequent source of "free" Tarot cards can REALLY help a run.

And this is where the interactions can matter, for instance if you have a card with a Gold Seal ($3 when scored) and you have the Joker Hanging Chad (triggers the first card two additional times) -- if the first card scored has a Gold Seal, and you have Hanging Chad, that means you get $9.

[RazzberryMocha]

Looking at your stats:
1. It's easy to assume you're forcing flush every run when possible, and that is a terrible strategy many players fall into. Play the type of build you are offered, not the one you feel is always the easiest (especially since flush is one of the weaker hands).
2. Why are you taking so many wheel of fortunes? It's a fine way to spend your money when you have little else to spend it on, but even when you do rarely highroll with it it is still not very impactful.
3. Take jokers that impact your economy such as golden joker/faceless joker/reserved parking. Balatro is secretly a shopping simulator and making your shops as impactful as possible is the best general way to win.
4. I don't know if you are, but don't skip blinds, like, ever. Besides for a very select few tags in ante one such as the $25 skip tag skipping is objectively worse than selecting the blind 95% of the time. Once again, Balatro is a shopping simulator and skipping prevents you from seeing shops.

[malogoss]

I looked at your stats, the sample is very small.
Still, what stood out is Jupiter being so far ahead of other planet cards, same for WoF in tarot cards and Hermit being too far behind.

Flushes are easy to play, sure, but they scale horribly. Not saying you should never go for it, but you should go for other hands a lot more often. Your most played hand being Flush is both impressive and bad at the same time, IMO.

WoF is a rich player's tax, most of the time. There's almost always a better pick in arcana packs. A WoF now and then is a thing, but that much is odd.

Hermit being far back clearly points at not valuing economy enough. One basic principle of the game is to stay at $25+ so that you bank max interest every round. Once you do that, Hermit is +$20 every time you pick it, that's a lot of money and it makes Hermit a very good option at any time.

Just for reference, the top 3 tarot cards in my stats are Hermit, Hanged Man and Death, in that order. Not saying this is the result of perfect play, I'm not that good, but it's surely a more natural top 3.

[ALLRIOT]

Originally posted by malogoss:

I looked at your stats, the sample is very small.
Still, what stood out is Jupiter being so far ahead of other planet cards, same for WoF in tarot cards and Hermit being too far behind.

Flushes are easy to play, sure, but they scale horribly. Not saying you should never go for it, but you should go for other hands a lot more often. Your most played hand being Flush is both impressive and bad at the same time, IMO.

WoF is a rich player's tax, most of the time. There's almost always a better pick in arcana packs. A WoF now and then is a thing, but that much is odd.

Hermit being far back clearly points at not valuing economy enough. One basic principle of the game is to stay at $25+ so that you bank max interest every round. Once you do that, Hermit is +$20 every time you pick it, that's a lot of money and it makes Hermit a very good option at any time.

Just for reference, the top 3 tarot cards in my stats are Hermit, Hanged Man and Death, in that order. Not saying this is the result of perfect play, I'm not that good, but it's surely a more natural top 3.

tried to do less flushes and it goes to ♥♥♥♥ before the first boss every single time.

[malogoss]

Originally posted by ALLRIOT:

tried to do less flushes and it goes to ♥♥♥♥ before the first boss every single time.

Ante 1 and 2, flushes are good. It's up to you after that. Keep playing them no matter what and lose a lot because of that, or pivot into something else depending on what is offered to you.

[ALLRIOT]

Originally posted by malogoss:

Originally posted by ALLRIOT:

tried to do less flushes and it goes to ♥♥♥♥ before the first boss every single time.

Ante 1 and early ante 2, flushes are good. After that it's up to you, keep playing them no matter what and lose a lot because of that, or pivot into something else depending on what is offered to you.

I see nothing offered to me that doesn't give ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ or is extremely difficult to get

[malogoss]

:)

[Twelvefield]

Two Pair is the strongest hand for the effort that you put into getting it, simply because you need one card less than a Straight or a Flush, and that makes a huge difference. That, and Two Pair is supported by the most Jokers. Two Pairing your way through the first three blinds is hard, but once you get Jokers to support it, you can go Two Pair all the way.

There are definitely stronger setups than Two Pair, but they are more complicated to arrange.

As for your friends winning so easily, either they are studying guides, or else they are top-tier MENSA, in which case get them to do you calculus homework for you, maybe you can eke out a Bachelor's Degree out there somewhere without ever going to class.

[ALLRIOT]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

Two Pair is the strongest hand for the effort that you put into getting it, simply because you need one card less than a Straight or a Flush, and that makes a huge difference. That, and Two Pair is supported by the most Jokers. Two Pairing your way through the first three blinds is hard, but once you get Jokers to support it, you can go Two Pair all the way.

There are definitely stronger setups than Two Pair, but they are more complicated to arrange.

As for your friends winning so easily, either they are studying guides, or else they are top-tier MENSA, in which case get them to do you calculus homework for you, maybe you can eke out a Bachelor's Degree out there somewhere without ever going to class.

it's stupid annoying to find a build good enough for it to work in time. Which makes it a lot harder

[Twelvefield]

I guess this game is not for you, then. Making a Two Pair is pretty much like breathing.

[Moray Eel]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

I guess this game is not for you, then. Making a Two Pair is pretty much like breathing.

Imagine going for two pair when you can always go high card

[ALLRIOT]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

I guess this game is not for you, then. Making a Two Pair is pretty much like breathing.

Well duh, it’s easy to make. But it isn’t profitable early on.