Balatro: All Hand Types, Ranked

As a deckbuilding enthusiast, it’s not breaking any rules to strategically arrange my cards in the poker-themed roguelike game. In fact, this tactic is an integral aspect of the game, enabling me to hoard as many ace cards as I can uncover and thereby expanding the variety of hands I can play beyond what’s typically seen in traditional poker games.

In the game of Balatro, there are twelve distinct hand types, and it’s important to note that they aren’t evenly distributed. While it’s clear we have Chips and Mult hands, other factors such as the number of cards scored, the rarity of the hand, and the effectiveness of Jokers and strategies with each hand type are crucial considerations. A Royal Flush might be impressive, but it may not guarantee victory in every situation.

12. Two Pair

Too Disappointing

Having a base multiplier of just 2, this hand doesn’t stand alone as a strong one. While it may earn higher points compared to some other hands, the usage of four cards could potentially interfere with the formation of a superior hand later in the game.

When searching for a superior version of Full House, you often encounter a hand that is almost perfect, missing just one card. This small difference can lead to significant frustration since it’s nearly complete. Additionally, it progresses at a snail’s pace with its planet card, awarding only 20 chips and 1 Multiplier.

Nevertheless, this hand remains useful for games involving Spare Trousers Joker or enhanced cards, as a minimum of four can be counted.

11. Pair

A Backup Plan

A pair, while seemingly limited in its usefulness and not particularly impressive, is remarkably prevalent. Due to its widespread presence, enhancing it can provide an unexpectedly valuable backup solution in less favorable circumstances.

In many poker hands, cards that enhance a Pair’s value will advantage not only the Pair, but numerous other hand combinations as well. This is because a significant number of hands typically contain a Pair, with the exception of Straights and High Card hands, which can also include a Pair.

The Duo Joker and the Jolly Joker each offer multipliers when you have a pair in your hand. Specifically, the Duo Joker provides an X2 multiplier, while the Jolly Joker offers a convenient +8 multiplier, particularly useful during the initial stages of the game.

Although it’s ideal to utilize the Jokers more advantageously when you have stronger hands, the convenience of employing them similarly to a Pair should not be underestimated.

10. Three Of A Kind

Starting To Get Useful

Three Of A Kind finds itself in an unusual situation, neither completely useless nor entirely dependable. It delivers a foundation of 3 Multipliers, yet these aren’t particularly far-reaching. However, they do help you progress during the initial stages of the game. While it can serve as a decent fallback when targeting Full Houses, you’ll encounter Two Pairs more frequently.

Jokers that can be used with a Three of a Kind poker hand are also compatible with Full Houses, Four of a Kind, Five of a Kind, Flush, and Flush Five. This makes it a decent alternative hand to improve and collect more Jokers compared to Pair or Two Pair hands. The Jokers for this hand offer greater versatility than those in Pair or Two Pair scenarios.

9. High Card

Do Hands Even Matter?

In simpler terms, High Card doesn’t come with a fixed multiplier or use Jokers. Instead, it only scores one card individually. Despite lacking these common features, it offers numerous tricks. It’s generally not beneficial, especially during the initial stages of the game, but can be crucial for setting up stronger hands when you’re running out of discards.

This option performs almost as effectively as Pair and Two Pair, and what sets it apart is its consistency in availability. It serves as an ideal backup strategy, particularly when paired with the Burnt Joker, which allows it to advance at least once per round.

Because it requires just a single card to play, it synergizes exceptionally well with abilities that remain in your hand, such as Steel Cards. Therefore, keep an eye out for the Mime and Steel Joker.

In High Card, though there are no Jokers unique to this game, many Jokers offer Chips, Multipliers, or multiply your existing Multiplier, regardless of the type of hand you have. Consequently, in situations where these Jokers are involved, the specific hand type becomes less significant. In such cases, it’s often wise to play conservatively and focus on a hand that you will never be just one card away from completing.

8. Straight Flush

We’re All Royal Here

In a regular deck of cards, a Straight Flush is the most valuable and scarcest hand type. Even in the game of Poker, where Royal Flushes reign supreme, they are considered as Straight Flushes too, in the card game called Balatro.

The quality of the moves for this type of play is exceptional, but unfortunately, it often falls short when trying to compensate for its challenging consistency.

This hand’s performance is top-notch, yet it struggles to keep up with its demanding consistency.

Or:

The execution of this play style is truly remarkable, but it tends to fall short in terms of making up for its consistent difficulty.

In simpler terms, having cards like Four Fingers and Shortcut as jokers can greatly increase the number of hands you can play, but using these jokers might become a problem when it comes to ante rounds later on.

Concentrating solely on achieving a Straight Flush can be risky, as it’s like placing all your bets on one horse and if it doesn’t pay off, you have nothing to show for it. If you’re not focusing on it, it’s such an uncommon occurrence that it might not be worth investing time in perfecting it. However, it’s delightful when it happens unexpectedly early in the game, as it guarantees an immediate victory.

7. Straight

Order Up!

With a base Multiplier of 4, a Straight will generally be sufficient to help you defeat the initial Boss without requiring Jokers. They are frequently found in a standard deck, but unlike other hand types, you can’t manipulate the deck significantly by adding numerous extra playing cards to improve your chances.

Using the Shortcut and Four-Finger Jokers can certainly enhance the likelihood of obtaining straights, however, it’s important to note that these cards occupy valuable Joker slots in your deck.

Certain handy cards, such as The Runner, are exclusively effective when forming Straights and Royal Flushes. For instance, The Runner awards an extra 15 chips each time a Straight is played, which can accumulate to a considerable amount during a gaming session.

One disadvantage of having Straights as your opponent’s hand is that it can force you into a situation where you have a High Card as your only option, which might not be ideal if you haven’t planned for that scenario.

6. Four of A Kind

Something’s Missing

A Four of a Kind hand typically scores high, but it’s seldom achieved without augmenting your deck. It’s not consistently dependable enough to warrant enhancing or obtaining Jokers unless additional cards are involved. In such a case, going for a Five of a Kind might be more logical instead.

In this unique game called “Four Of A Kind,” there is only one special Joker assigned to it, known as “The Family.” This powerful Joker multiplies the value of your hand by four if you manage to get a Four Of A Kind combination.

In these games too, Five of a Kind and Flush Five have their own families, so Four of a Kind can serve as a strong alternative when the deck is particularly full.

5. Full House

A Stable Environment

As a gamer, I can vouch that Full House is quite dependable and performs well across various Joker variants. It’s not the riskiest bet out there, but it sure does offer some decent returns – either Two Pair or Three Of A Kind. Compared to relying on High Card as a backup, this is a safer choice, unless your strategy specifically hinges on that.

In the game of Full House, while there aren’t any unique Joker cards associated with it, Jokers used for Pair, Two Pairs, and Three of a Kind combinations are commonly employed and quite popular.

By augmenting your deck with additional cards, you’ll find it incredibly straightforward to achieve a Full House. Subsequently, you can adapt your approach to pursue less common hand combinations.

4. Flush

Suit Yourself

Flushes are generally good hands, but what sets them apart is their ease to obtain. If you’re aiming for a specific suit, the probability of drawing the desired card is about 25% (or 1 out of 4) per card in a typical deck, which is significantly higher than the likelihood of landing on a specific rank, where the odds are approximately 7.69% (or 1 out of 13) in a standard deck.

Using Tarot Cards such as The Sun significantly enhances the likelihood of obtaining Flushes, allowing you to store this beneficial card in one of your usable storage spaces for potential emergencies. Multiple Jokers simplify the process of achieving Flushes by offering variations like Four Fingers and Smeared Joker, making a Flush one of the most straightforward hands to secure in the game.

As a card game enthusiast, I’ve come across various types of Jokers in my gaming journey. While some, like the Droll Joker, boost the points for any Flush, there are others, such as the Greedy Joker, that amp up the score for specific suits. The suit-based Jokers work particularly well with Flushes, as they enable you to secure a five-of-a-kind in the same suit, making your hand all the more valuable!

3. Flush House

Happy Family!

In the game of Balatro, Flush Houses are the most elusive and uncommon type of poker hand, one that doesn’t usually appear in a standard deck. However, with focused strategy, you can increase their frequency, particularly when stakes are higher.

Just as with any hidden talents, they excel remarkably and are definitely worth the additional time invested to uncover them.

While they can be used in various ways, the most beneficial application comes when you concentrate on the Flush hand type because eventually, you will encounter a Flush House (a full house with all five cards of one suit) as you convert more and more cards into a single suit.

Flush Houses, as suggested by their title, gain advantages from all Jokers that favor Flushes and Full Houses, a significant number indeed.

2. Five of a Kind

Deserving Of A Five-Star Review

Five of a Kind is the simplest hidden poker hand to achieve, as it requires only one additional card in your deck to complete. To increase your chances, having multiple cards of the same rank is advantageous.

When dealing with Tarot cards such as Strength or Death, it’s quite common to draw multiple cards of the same suit. To increase your chances, simply concentrate on accumulating as many cards of a single rank as you can.

Five Of A Kind not only performs exceptionally when played alone, but it also makes use of the versatile Family Joker to boost combinations such as Pairs, Three Of A Kind, and even Four Of A Kind.

1. Flush Five

Attack Of The Clones!

In the game of Balatro, the hand type with the highest score, the Flush Five, might surprise you as it’s relatively easy to achieve. It’s only slightly harder to obtain than a Five Of A Kind and can be effortlessly secured by employing strategies similar to those used with Tarot cards that alter suits, such as The Moon.

The DNA Joker and the Cryptid Spectral Card are also particularly helpful since they copy cards.

In Balatro, the “Flush Five” hand has an advantage over other hands because it can utilize all the Jokers that a “Five of a Kind” can, plus any Jokers that complement a Flush. The high score, versatility with various Jokers, and potential consistency make “Flush Five” undoubtedly the superior hand type in Balatro.

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2025-02-25 13:40