How to Win a Balatro Run: Guide, Tips & Tricks For Beating Balatro

[@josue85]

I learned more watching this 1 run, than I have playing 10 hours of the game on my own. Great tips!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Glad I could help!

[@mat-_-vey]

первые 10 часов я ничего не понимал, а сейчас я всё понимаю, но адово misplays на золотой ставке. А белая ставка такая простая, что очень приятно выигрывать чувствовать себя богом в balatro на несколько мгновений. Золотая ставка никого не щадит. Чтобы победить надо смотреть на игру под другим углом и у тебя всё получиться. have a good luck) he play realy bad. Just find any tier list for great knowledge

[@joshchaplin3705]

Thanks for taking time away from The Mars Volta to give us this Balatro advice.

[@NickMaovich]

bro is playing fresh profile better than me after discovering 100 jokers hahah

[@ZainoTVLive]

I mean I also have played a metric ton on my other profile, and honestly theres an argument that a fresh profile has less bloat in jokers.

[@robertfrost8264]

Honestly, sometimes in games like this, you're better off starting an entire new "account" because sometimes you ONLY wanna discover certain jokers. Sure some unlock way later but sometimes you can have a wealth of options that leads to a LOT of trash in the heap.

[@soulure]

moving +score jokers to the left before multipliers is such a game changer

[@MeowtronStar]

Chips and mults are calculated separately so that doesn't matter. We have to care about moving mults and times mults around.

[@EDUARDASANTOS-ti5vs]

@@MeowtronStar colocar + mult pra esquerda ajuda muito

[@starpartyguy5605]

I’ve been playing this for a week. It’s so addicting, my dog is piling toys at my feet, begging me to stop!

[@ZainoTVLive]

This hits too hard, my dog hasn't really had to split my attention for awhile until this game and now shes mad.

[@Gotti75]

it's exactly the same for me 🤭 It's perfect for using the PS Remote Play on the tablet and my dog tries to push his snout between my face and the tablet 😁 OMG we are lost 😄

[@whitealroker]

Made a two hour trip to New York seem instant last weekend

[@terrydactyl2077]

My guy hates the PC. He’s fine if I game on the sofa where he can chill next to me. But the PC he will lose it if I get in there too early in the evening. He will even bark at me to come play. And he gets a good 2 hours a day of walking, dog park and fetch. He is small so sometimes I put his little bed on the desk next to the monitor and he will chill. He also hates me looking at my phone if we are playing a game like fetch.

[@ChristianBaleNutjob]

Animal cruelty

[@NatsumiMichi]

I fumbled in the game for 10 hours straight barely ever making it to ante 8 - now I can't stop winning. Great guide mate, you're a legend!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Glad I could help!!!

[@facemouther]

I hit the last round of Ante 8 on my first run and lost it on the last hand, the proceeded to dump 6 more hours into the game. I think we got the exact opposite issue

[@lilwyvern4]

Seriously, thanks. Easy to understand, clear instructions, well explained but not rambling. Well done.

[@ZainoTVLive]

I'm glad you enjoyed and found it helpful!

[@Everyday-man]

Thank you, this was one of the most helpful videos on this game. I like how you did a small demo play and walked us through each choice/ decision you made. Highly appreciated.

[@Hoovin]

Some of my favourite creators have made videos on this game and I enjoy them but didn't have some of the basic concepts down - thanks for this!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Glad you enjoyed! Hopefully I can make it onto that favorite creator list in the future XD

[@Hoovin]

You certainly earned a subscriber!

[@patweed2909]

I'm a big fan of Northnlion, and the videos made no sense to me. After actually playing the game for about half an hour and it all immediately clicked. He's not exactly the type to explain mechanics though. This was a very helpful video

[@Hoovin]

@@patweed2909 love him, and Frostprime, and Frost's editor Andrew is a Saint! He throws up on screen the descriptions of every relevant card used in the run, that helped a lot - but this video goes even more basic than that - it's mint

[@NicholasKratzer]

Thank you so much for making this guide! I've been hanging trouble understanding what's good in Balatro, and how to strategize. Watching you play through a full run while you explain your strategy was extremely helpful, thanks!

[@acquij]

best guide / advice video on Balatro I've seen on here so far, would love to watch more

[@ZainoTVLive]

More to come! Appreciate the support

[@markadams5009]

I have to give an update! Thanks so much for the advice, I've won 2 games already and I had lost tons before watching this vid. My best game so far is red deck base difficulty and my jokers in order from left to right were Hologram x3 75 multi, a polychrome Blueprint, Baseball Card, a polychrome Burglar, Four Fingers, and finally a negative Splash. Also I had several hands leveled up the highest being my Flush and Full House at level 7 each. Lol I decimated the final Ante 8 boss Violet Vessel very large blind. 😅 I know I still have lots more to learn and unlock but it's nice to finally start winning!! Super addicting and fun! Thanks again for helping me to start to learn and understand the game!! 👍🃏

[@ZainoTVLive]

Im glad I could help, and that run sounds freaking amazing & really fun!

[@Randomyoutuber-4831]

This video pointed out what I've been doing wrong for the last few runs: I've been too stingy with my discards, trying to go for multiple hands at once as a safety net when a 'high risk/high reward' approach tends to get better results where I commit entirely to one hand.

[@BromanThings]

An additional (nitpicky) tip for 19:30! You're going to get free mult for every hand that's not of your most-played type (Obelisk)... so rather than winning the round in one shot with fibonnaci 2-pair, you could have played some low-scoring high-card hands first. Your econ was just fine at this stage of the game, so at this point a few less dollars for free mult is amazing. That being said, I've beaten the game a bunch but I'm only up to stake 3 for each of my unlocked decks. I learned a ton by watching your playstyle. Thank you very much for this vid!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Youre not wrong at all

[@robbiereed4462]

Best concise tips I've seen. thanks! I won my first game yesterday and then I saw this today and I can't wait to get back to playing the game!

[@ZainoTVLive]

I'm glad to hear and congrats on the W!

[@RusticRiceball]

Excellent guide and tips. Not too long, direct and to the point, and actually helped a lot. After entering the game more or less blind for about 8 hours, the best I could get to was the Boss Blind of Ante 7. After learning the tips from this video, in just another 1-2 attempts, I managed to push through Ante 8 and complete my first game. Particularly useful to hear the train of thought on why you pick and stick with certain jokers, even if they may not seem like they're the best option yet. My winning run had Constellation and Hologram, which I could then focus on getting the planet cards and new playing cards to stack the multiplier. I think another very important thing I gained from this guide is to not be afraid to discard to get the 1-2 excellent hands. That really helped me get that few extra dollars early on, which I think ended up being important to the run. And also reminded me to just continue discarding for that winning hand after I know what cards I need based on the jokers I have. Thanks a lot. You're good with guides.

[@Ryomahino135]

Guys I had a sick run but forgot to read the boss blind's effect and lost. Don't let that happen to you!

[@DIAT0NIX_16]

"just try to go huge" is the advice I needed? I used to get baited by playing hands that didn't have any synergy. Thanks bro

[@ZainoTVLive]

I think this is the big advice, unless your playing a high card build, fish for your big hand.

[@Ashley-sd5xn]

This video is AWESOME. One tip - you're targeting new players like me, who probably don't know the cards well. It would be helpful to read out the description or explain the effect instead of just reading the title. I kept having to rewind and pause to figure out what the cards you were picking do 😅

[@أحْمدْ69]

I've been stuck on 6 ante for 12 hours man, after i watched this i won 3 consecutive times, great guide 👍

[@RC_723]

Wow thank you so much, I was struggling to get past level 6-7 but following your tips at the beginning (try to one shot early blinds by discarding , grab spectral packs whenever possible those cards are seriously good) I was finally able to beat a run!! Thank you so much 😊

[@rafaelbrito9519]

It's so satisfying to watch a good player play Balatro, had fun and learned a few things while at it, thanks!

[@Fallub]

So much great content. Thank you for helping newbies like me. I am struggling big time in this game.

[@VoltaDoMar]

This video must have helped me, because I won my first run right after this, and since then I've won two more. Before that, I played 18 hours without a single win.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Thats amazing to hear! Watching back just a couple days later there are aspects I want to improve on this video, but its great to hear its still working for some.

[@MisterVercetti]

12:00 Another benefit to that particular tag with your setup is that, if you got two Jokers you didn't particularly want, you could sell them and not only get a bit of extra cash, but also power up your Campfire for the boss. It's a nice example of Tag/Joker synergy that I think a lot of people tend to sleep on at times.

[@seadubbs11]

Someone already said this but its so true. I learned more form the ONE video than I have playing this game for two weeks. Great Video!!

[@ZainoTVLive]

I'm so glad!

[@DeckardTrinity]

Perfectly explained and well executed run! Biggest thing I've learned recently is locking in that play strategy in the first ante. Gotta go with what the Jokers / fortune holds!

[@actually_yali]

I have two wins to my name but I've definitely been focusing on my planet cards too much and not letting my jokers determine my strategy. Thanks for the helpful tips : )

[@yvonnemcgruder3296]

This was SO helpful. Thank you for the playthrough. I was always just going for the best poker hand, when I needed to pay attention to the jokers to make the points needed. Great video!

[@precido]

Great "thinking out loud" -got me changing my thought process The you!

[@Bolkiebasher]

Very helpful (a bit too fast but I grasped enough). I'm 18 hours in without a run and this should help. I didn't strategize enough, just picked the best hand available. Thanks!

[@knessy6446]

Watched this and then immediately won my next run. Thank you so much!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Glad it helped!

[@emilybushardt7103]

I’m so excited to implement these strats !! Thank you !!

[@RayVitoles]

One thing i want to add as a tip is what you mentioned about the chips.Chips scale good enough with planets most of the time ,and i think they are underrated in general,but what you must keep in mind is that you want your chips to be even with your mult.This is because in every multiplication ,the squared number is the strongest if you have a+b=c and 2d=c for example then d^2 is higher than a*b(for example 3+1=4 and 2+2=4,3*1=3 and 2*2=4 ,4 is higher than 3)So in the late game,your mult tends to hit high and chips fall off,you need some kind of way to back them up.This is also important in those high score runs and this is also the reason why plasma deck(which evens the numbers out by itself) scores the highest scores

[@aqua_noodle]

Got my first win with a flush buld and green deck yesterday. What a rush. With your tips, I think I can push even further. Edit: i see you rsponding to so many people here. Good to see someone caring so much about their viewers. You are a blessing to this site.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Haha thank you on both fronts. Flush builds 100% one of the most optimal ways to play and a great way to get through a bunch of your first wins.

[@GaryofNivea]

I saw this video and then literally won the next game I played. Although part of it was down to me getting a legendary joker - but without the strategy you gave, I would not have won. My first win in 8 hours of gameplay.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Thats always amazing to hear that the video helped. Way to go! Hope for many more souls in your packs and Ws in your pocket!!

[@ChristopherWalker-wl4ex]

I kept struggling until I watched this and now I just beat my first run, thanks!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Always awesome to hear!!!

[@zn4496]

I watched this last night before bed and guess wha? The run you played on the video, I had almost the exact hand. I just won my first run over 50 hours of gameplay. The guide is really helpful for those have difficulty understanding synergies with jokers, tarot's and celestial packs.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Thats awesome to hear!!!

[@DTyoungster]

This is a fantastic explanation of how to play this game. Learned so much!!!

[@markhaus]

When you get obelisk later in the run, it might be good to keep pushing your most played hand until you’re having a tough time winning without obelisk. That way you build a long runway of multmults to use later on

[@kwerner]

New subscriber, been watching your videos and wanted to let you know that your 5 tips helped me finally beat the red, blue, and yellow decks. Made it to round 32! Thanks bud! 👍

[@ZainoTVLive]

That's so awesome to hear! On to the next decks :)

[@Nodnarb518]

Great vid. Love the Balatro content. I have like 12 hours in the game and only one win to show for it. Can’t seem to wrap my head around mults/multipliers and jokers so this vid is helpful.

[@zerovine8025]

Entertaining and helpful, I really LOVE that playthru together thing. Thank you for explaining your train of thoughts!

[@zerovine8025]

the first game i play after watching this i won the run btw lol

[@pumpkinpartysystem]

Oh okay good I already figured out all these on my own. Forgetting to read the boss blind is a mood though.

[@Lantern_Light]

Got my first win with this guide. Appreciate it

[@ZainoTVLive]

So glad it helped!!!

[@LostScarf]

This helped me consider not always going for interest. I always go for 1 joker then wait for 25 before I buy anything. Nice run there.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Appreciate it, and yeah I love going for interest but I think you need a base first.

[@oribt1]

I was so confused as to what Straight were you talking about at 21:12 lol. Thank you for the tips, it will defintly come in handy!

[@kenz6502]

Amazing bro, thx so much this was fast, but well explained

[@vladimirlebedenko2226]

Thanks for the guide. Still can't get past 7 ante but with your guide hope to finally beat it :D

[@ZainoTVLive]

You got this! As with any roguelike or poker game, there is luck involved, but you just gotta secure those good-mult jokers and you'll get past it.

[@Droid6689]

You might need to get some unlocks and decks first. I find the yellow deck to be one of the best and most resilient. Just focus on your boss blinds each ante. If you build a deck to beat your ante you will get to the next one. A good tip is that you don't always want to use a tarot card right away. A suit or enhancement tarot in your pocket can let you beat a boss blind when you might have not drawn the card if you used it before the match. Edit: For example, on the hardest difficulty I just bought a spade tarot going into the big blind that halved base chips/mult. I lucked into a full house opener that would've been x4 halved to x2. I used the tarot to make it a flush house which was x14 halved to x7. With my jokers, that let me beat the boss in one hand with zero discards when otherwise I might have lost

[@vladimirlebedenko2226]

@@Droid6689thanks for the tips man!

[@liberty2087]

Been trying to win with the black deck for the past few weeks. Watched this video and won on my first try

[@ZainoTVLive]

LETS GOOOO

[@NikaDeus]

I just won my first run, immediately after watching this video lol!! It really works

[@ZainoTVLive]

LETS GOOOOO

[@BardoGutini]

Waos, after 8 hours of gameplay I finally able to win a game. Thank you so much for the guide!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Im so glad it helped, heres to many more!

[@StefanTsanoff]

Thanks man. Just watched it. I play the game from 2 days ago. The first one - I was like playing holdem poker :D Second - Started to understand things. Still not beaten the boss (Black deck unlocked so far). Will try tomorrow with the tips. Grreat game, great video and great build in the video!

[@lucasmerrill3206]

Got drunk and bought this game one night. Got holographic Cavendish on a yellow deck run (don’t even remember getting gros michel). Turned computer off, started run back up, won game. Haven’t been able to win since. Gonna study this video until my eyes bleed

[@ZainoTVLive]

One of the best comments I've read haha

[@literallyap0tat0-q7q]

I'm here after fumbling the bag on the final blind last night 😢 I like to take the yellow deck and look for ways to get more money early on. That money can pile up to the point where you can buy anything you want. Gotta ditch the money generating jokers at some point though for multipliers. I think missing my window for that sunk me in that run last night.

[@theunamedpotato]

16:39 woah I just learned something, that straight hand rly surprised me with the ace being 1st card but also using 2 to link it

[@bakersuccs]

Won my first game after watching half this video once!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Heck yeah!

[@jonathanbennett4535]

Fantastic knowledge here. Hope you will do another newbie run through when the 1.0.1 update hits the Nintendo switch!

[@theGrandRapidian]

Great video and I look forward to trying your tips later today!

[@pwnedshift1]

concise and perspicuous, thanks for the tips!

[@MBolesy]

great tips man! keep up the good work

[@eli8729]

I just started playing this game today and I can tell your gameknowledge is crazy high but oh boy is it hard for me to keep up, especially due to it being sped up.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Yeah, I messed that up. Three things I want to re-do about this video. 1) Speed, I didn't realize I was on 4x 2) New tips as I thought of a couple more 3) Explain each joker better for new players!

[@playblox7508]

Most insightful video I have seen. Thanks

[@ZainoTVLive]

Glad it helped!

[@deeveejay]

Great tutorial and commentary, thanks!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Of course! Glad to help

[@lckyguardian]

Commenting here to remember to re-Watch this one. Very helpful!

[@pollywave]

Great tips, I would just suggest maybe slowing down when clicking on jokers...had a hell of a time figuring out what obelisk does, and just couldn't pause the video to read myself haha. But google saved the day. Subbed

[@ZainoTVLive]

I realized this after recording, I was way too fast and not explaining the jokers/card movement. Thanks for the sub! I'll try and make another version of this, sometime.

[@jarzz3601]

I've lost way too many runs by going on cruise control and not reading the boss blind the worst was when I had a deck with like 20 king of hearts, Triboulet and the boss blind that debuffs hearts I had director's cut all I needed to do was read the blind and reroll

[@ZainoTVLive]

Literally me, every. single. stream. This is why I added it in as a tip haha.

[@kungfuakash1]

Absolutely beautiful run. Great tips. Subscribed

[@kungfuakash1]

Update. My first run after watching this video was a Winner that was carried by Campfire. I also had an Acrobat Joker (X3 multiplier on the final hand) but I did not even have to use it.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Thanks for the sub and kind words!

[@connor3915]

Great video! It helps to know what to focus on and work towards early, which is where I find a lot of issues! How effective are planet cards? If I have a lot of money generation is it worth picking a few up every shop if I can, or should I focus on buying better Jokers to get better scoring cards?

[@ZainoTVLive]

Post patch, even more powerful. I think planets are pretty worth it regardless.

[@andytrts]

Until this I had no idea I could discard more than one card at a time….no wonder I couldn’t beat the 7 boss.

[@pabloruizortega94]

Just saw this video and win my very first game. Nice tips man!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Glad it helped!

[@ace159951]

got my first win today with the yellow deck. game is so fun and addicting. trying to get a win now with red or blue deck

[@ZainoTVLive]

Congrats & Good Luck!!

[@pt4387]

Thanks for the great video. I learned a lot from watching this!

[@markadams5009]

Recently subbed, amazing video. I was playing tons of games totally wrong and haven't won a single game yet. 😭 Now I might stand a chance. 😅 (But I can't aee all the combos, possibilities and potential hands etc. nearly as good as you can so hopefully lady luck will help me out. 😅)

[@ZainoTVLive]

You'll get there, it is like any game, you'll get better the more familiar everything becomes! I'm glad the video helped!

[@gavinweidner1332]

Honestly main thing I've taken away from this guide is get fibonacci and hack and you're set 😂

[@ST-ph2vj]

Really useful tipps here, thanks a lot. 🤗

[@holybiscuits7714]

Awesome video! One thing I noticed is that you kept playing your gold cards/beating the round before using all your hands. Holding one ears $3 per hand, whereas keeping the hand only makes you $1 at the end of the round, so it might theoretically be best to keep playing low non-synergistic high cards while keeping the $3 gold card generation in the hand, until the last hand where you go for the win. I assume the trade-off (and perhaps the reason you didn't do this) is that you can risk losing it all by going down to the last hand. Or just play faster in exchange for a bit of money lol. Let me know if there's a different reason for this

[@Breton-J]

I'm currently stuck on the green chip haha. 40 hours into this game and I just can't win on the green chip

[@ZainoTVLive]

I would really try and focus on getting your additional/scaling mult and a chip joker. Even rerolling if you have to.

[@malcolmyates4968]

Amazing tips thanks mate

[@wolfy10100]

great vid, you made it look so easy!

[@NguyenPham-bl6qm]

Take a sub my good man. These vids has helped me a lot the last couple of days (im on black stake now).

[@ZainoTVLive]

Thats awesome to hear!!!

[@fz8159]

What an awesome guide! Thanks so much bro! :)

[@ZainoTVLive]

Of course! Glad it helped

[@Neon_tedious]

Liking your guides, any plans on giving a top 20 joker/cards list? A full tier list would overwhelming 😅

[@ZainoTVLive]

I think I am going to be doing a full tier list on Tuesday 👀, but it'll have chapters to make it digestible!

[@Neon_tedious]

@@ZainoTVLive thanks I know a lot of jokers are situational so maybe a list your favorite combos could be good too

[@musicxnr8876]

cavendish and blueprint and madness must be on the top

[@MytzerL]

This game is a hell of a drug

[@dwiseman50]

Love the vid! Finally won some runs🎉🎉

[@ZainoTVLive]

Lets go! Once you start to get a feel, the wins start building.

[@ilcapitano9915]

thx for the good tips, well spoken and sympathy for the noobs like i am finally i won a round🤩

[@ZainoTVLive]

Hahaha, I'm glad it helped, GGs on the win!

[@simplybs9311]

Looking at your plays I see the obvious moves, but when i decide to sit down and play on my own i mess up so badly. Great tutorial though

[@pabloescobar3907]

video helped alot got to the last ante and last round first try

[@ZainoTVLive]

Awesome to hear!

[@sbo597]

This is a great video. The only thing I'd like to say is that can you do something about the facecam, it gets in the way of the deck.

[@Evan_Schaefering]

I had about 6-7 hours in Balatro before watching this video and hadn't yet won a run and was getting a little frustrated. I was pretty consistently getting to ante 6+ through okayish fundamentals but runs never really panned out. After watching this, things finally clicked into place and I pretty handily won the first run I played. Perhaps it would be a little bit too much hand holding but I feel like the tutorial should take the time to make note of the differences between additive MULT and multiplicative MULT.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Good point, I should have clarified that even more. Especially since this is made for new players, but congrats on the win!!!

[@Evan_Schaefering]

@@ZainoTVLive Thanks! I wasn't really meaning you should have done more though. Hammering the point home even more wouldn't have hurt but I think you did a great job. I was really only pointing out that the in-game tutorial is really minimal and the game is complex which kinda left me lost. Your video, specifically the way you explained your thought process, helped me understand the basics of the game in a much more useful way.

[@w4shedup]

very very good and helpful video but maybe it might be worth it to do another playthrough talking through your choices like this but where you don't get rng as good as this to explain how you'd adapt and get to a better setup.

[@GoBrowns]

"Dont forget to read boss blind" Doesnt read boss blind multiple times in the run... Actually me

[@ZainoTVLive]

I for the life of me just can never remember to do it. I should make it tip 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 🤣

[@TheTaydak]

oh so glad i watched this it's changed how i play and i finally get xmultiplyer over +multiplyer and that you can rearrange poker cards :/

[@Franic19]

I do like the tips you give. I've only won one game so far (how I did, idk) but I'd really like to know how and why people swap the placements of the jokers around. Was hoping you'd get into it here but unfortunately not. I don't really exactly understand why certain placements are better than others. Would be nice if you'd make a video or could explain with which order the Jokers should be to get out as much multipliers as possible :)

[@ZainoTVLive]

I'll absolutely make a video about this, thanks for the comment. For the time being the quick idea is to place your +mult before you xmult the reason is: (2+2)x4 = 16; however, if I multiplied first it would be 2*4+2=10

[@Franic19]

@@ZainoTVLive Makes sense, I didn't know at first that the order can be changed, looked up a video, got overwhelmed what was happening and looked for someone to explain this. Thank you for the reply. Hope I can get a hang of building functional decks now XD

[@555Soupy555]

I'm so proud of myself I knew these tips going in! good game play

[@ZainoTVLive]

I'll have to come out with a part 2 with advance tips to test if you know all those too 🤔 haha.

[@JacqueCricket]

This strategy doesn't work when you go up against The Psychic boss. You'll just always forget to play 5 cards and not 4 lmao

[@ZainoTVLive]

I always don't do tip 5, it's why I made it a tip. If I read the boss blind (even while I'm on it) I would have so many more wins haha

[@beetyqsc1875]

Great video! I have a big question though. Is it reliable to think every run is possible to win or the rng makes it so that no matter what strategy, you simply can’t win?

[@ZainoTVLive]

I think just about every run at lower stakes is winnable if you replay the seed. However, I am not sure at high stakes. This question is a bit over my head and for the true hardcore gamers in the Discord/Reddit.

[@alltheorynopractice5467]

Me at 0:00 : Awesome, finally some help! Me at 3:57 : Oh, I'm already doing all that. Shit.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Yeah, I'm going to make some in-depth content around winning.

[@JasonVlogs85265]

Very helpful! 💪

[@mr.blonde5344]

Thanks. Finally a guide my dumb brain can follow.

[@damiencrossley7497]

Here's a challenge, only play for five minutes!