Balatro Tips and Strategies (Add Your Own)

[Zed Clampet]

• Make sure one of your Jokers earns money. You need money. Lots of it.
• Plus Multi is better than nothing, especially early, but Xmulti is what you need. Try to focus your Jokers and card improvements on this.
• If you can find jokers that repeat what another joker does, that will help you to get more out of your Xmulti joker(s).
• Make sure to order your jokers correctly. Xmulti should be the last things to happen.
• Focus on one or two easy and profitable poker hands. If you have good jokers, High Card can easily win the game. But if you want to get the highest scores possible and play "endless", you want to focus on higher profit hands. Flushes and Straights are usually easy to make, as is 4 of a kind so long as you do the next step.
• After you've decided what hands you want to make, take every opportunity to add the right cards and delete the wrong cards. Keep in mind that you need a certain amount of flexibility if you can't reroll your Boss Blinds. Sometimes, suits or even things like face cards will be completely useless.
• Buying the "celestial packs always include your most used hand" is usually a pretty good idea.
• I try to buy everything in the store (except for unneeded jokers) every turn. I have never skipped a Blind, but this may be useful if it is offering something good, like a lot of money. Don't get rich. Reroll.
• With good income, you can win just about any game regardless of luck.
• Especially early, use those discards until you can win the round with the first hand.

 

[Pifanjr]

• Focus on one or two easy and profitable poker hands. If you have good jokers, High Card can easily win the game. But if you want to get the highest scores possible and play "endless", you want to focus on higher profit hands. Flushes and Straights are usually easy to make, as is 4 of a kind so long as you do the next step.

To add on to this, from what I've read it's entirely possible to beat every single deck and stake by just focusing on High Card builds. It might seem like higher profit hands will get you way more points, but most of your points are coming from X multi jokers anyway. For a High Card build you mostly need good RNG for a couple of good Jokers. For a more complex hand build you need good RNG for jokers, card removal/additions and good RNG to be able to play that hand on every blind.

 

[Zed Clampet]

To add on to this, from what I've read it's entirely possible to beat every single deck and stake by just focusing on High Card builds. It might seem like higher profit hands will get you way more points, but most of your points are coming from X multi jokers anyway. For a High Card build you mostly need good RNG for a couple of good Jokers. For a more complex hand build you need good RNG for jokers, card removal/additions and good RNG to be able to play that hand on every blind.

The only problem is that, ideally, you want to play what the cards are telling you to play. You may go through 5 antes or more and not have been able to improve your High Card at all. It's certainly possible to beat every single deck and stake by focusing on High Card builds, but it isn't possible to focus on High Card builds every match, if you know what I mean. It is very much RNG-based. Some times you get what you need and sometimes you don't, so I tend to spread it around and focus on multiple hands. I haven't, for instance, gotten an Xmulti joker in awhile now. Just the luck of the draw. Actually, I did get one, and it seemed like it would be great. All I had to do to improve it was to destroy face cards. Then over the rest of the game I never got the Tarot cards offering to destroy cards.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Almost all knowledge of whatever I play leaves my brain as soon as I start playing something else, but I'll try and think. I'm not particularly good at Balatro but Ive beaten most if not all of the decks on the first couple difficulties and some are higher. I dont have my Switch at the moment so I cant check.

If you arent organizing your Jokers into order what the hell are you doing ?

Flush is good very early on but rarely ends up being the best hand to focus on.

From what I remember, on the higher difficulties you dont get any money for the first blind so especially early when theres no money to buy anything if theres any useful bonus there at all I just skip.

I usually try and keep money in the bank to keep interest rolling in, unless theres something really strong that justifies spending the money.

I rarely choose to augment cards until I know what hand is going to be my go-to for the game. The chance of pulling them is small and the bonus for doing it is rarely very big anyway.

Early on Im looking for any + multi or extra chips joker at all, preferably both, getting ahead of the curve lets you focus on getting money to cycle the shop for better late game jokers.

Later on an X multi and then anything that scales over time need to be added, like the ones that add multi for using planet/tarot cards or whatever else.

I dont like jokers that focus on a suit because the game will always pull the old 'X suit doesnt score' on a boss blind if I do.

I never pick up a Joker in the hope I'll be able to use it later. The ones that give bonuses for having Steel cards if you dont have any yet for example.

Just remembered I dont have the Switch but I did buy it for Android for a flight a while ago, hmm.

 

[Zed Clampet]

If you arent organizing your Jokers into order what the hell are you doing ?

The first maybe three or four games I played, I didn't realize you could change the order. But then I got my first Xtimes Joker, and you can believe I figured it out pretty quickly. Same thing with the order of the cards in my hand. As soon as there was a reason to move them around, I discovered that I could.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The first maybe three or four games I played, I didn't realize you could change the order. But then I got my first Xtimes Joker, and you can believe I figured it out pretty quickly. Same thing with the order of the cards in my hand. As soon as there was a reason to move them around, I discovered that I could.

Dont worry youre not the only one, was just pulling your leg.

Went and played on the tablet last night, havent played it there more than one or two games so Red Deck is at the white chip level.

Had a winning run where first joker I got was the one that adds +5 multi for every face card played, ended up with the one that counts every card as a face and finally one that adds X2 multi for the first face card played. Put all my Planet cards into High Card, Pair, and 2 Pairs. Later on I picked up the Joker that adds 0.2X Multi for every Steel card and I already had 8 of them.

Second Joker I got was the one that adds X1 multi for every empty Joker slot and I had to ween the deck off of it as I played but it got me through the first couple of antes easily.

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You know I dont think Ive ever won with Straights as a main hand. Maybe its habit but building something out of or all of Pair/2Pair/3 of a Kind and Full House just seems to be the way a lot of my winning hands work out. Especially as there are jokers that synergize with those hands and theyre easy to get. I tend to delete lower value cards and add buffs to face cards and aces as the game goes on to improve the odds and end up getting Full Houses quite easily if all goes well.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Dont worry youre not the only one, was just pulling your leg.

Went and played on the tablet last night, havent played it there more than one or two games so Red Deck is at the white chip level.

Had a winning run where first joker I got was the one that adds +5 multi for every face card played, ended up with the one that counts every card as a face and finally one that adds X2 multi for the first face card played. Put all my Planet cards into High Card, Pair, and 2 Pairs. Later on I picked up the Joker that adds 0.2X Multi for every Steel card and I already had 8 of them.

Second Joker I got was the one that adds X1 multi for every empty Joker slot and I had to ween the deck off of it as I played but it got me through the first couple of antes easily.

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You know I dont think Ive ever won with Straights as a main hand. Maybe its habit but building something out of or all of Pair/2Pair/3 of a Kind and Full House just seems to be the way a lot of my winning hands work out. Especially as there are jokers that synergize with those hands and theyre easy to get. I tend to delete lower value cards and add buffs to face cards and aces as the game goes on to improve the odds and end up getting Full Houses quite easily if all goes well.

The game I just mentioned in the monthly thread, I made it to ante 11 (where the boss blind is inexplicably 14 x what it was in ante 10 at 14 million), and I made at least one straight every round. Straights and Flushes are fairly easy and there are Jokers that help, and they level faster than the high card, pair, 3ofak. But even without those Jokers, I'll level them some as nice backup plans to pairs. I never do the two pair, 3ofak, etc. I figure you can level several things reasonably during a match, so I do pair, straight, flush.

However, in my most recent game, I just abandoned all that and did pairs due to the jokers, and I succeeded even though I didn't get the planet cards I needed. I never got pairs over level 6. Still managed to make it to ante 11 again.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The game I just mentioned in the monthly thread, I made it to ante 11 (where the boss blind is inexplicably 14 x what it was in ante 10 at 14 million), and I made at least one straight every round. Straights and Flushes are fairly easy and there are Jokers that help, and they level faster than the high card, pair, 3ofak. But even without those Jokers, I'll level them some as nice backup plans to pairs. I never do the two pair, 3ofak, etc. I figure you can level several things reasonably during a match, so I do pair, straight, flush.

However, in my most recent game, I just abandoned all that and did pairs due to the jokers, and I succeeded even though I didn't get the planet cards I needed. I never got pairs over level 6. Still managed to make it to ante 11 again.

Yea theres a lot of Jokers for Straights like 4 cards and gap in between, so obviously it works. Its just a quirk of my brain. Feels to me like if Im trying to play Straights I'll have 23467810 and not know what to throw away. Aiming for Full House I can buff the pairs and 3 of a kind with planet cards to fall back on and I can load the deck with extras of the cards I want to pull to improve my chances. Also the 2 Pair and Pair Jokers that buff hands including those also work on Full House which is a big bonus.

What cards do you delete or buy to improve chances of a Straight and which cards do you enhance so that youre using them more often in your hands when youre using Straights? With Flush feels like I always hit the boss blind that debuffs the suit Im using, unless you get the Joker that makes all Red and Black cards work together which is pot luck. I guess if youre combining it with Straight then you just fall back on that to mitigate it. I should experiment, but it feels harder to build into, I have tried quite a bit because RNG sometimes forces it but it just hasnt worked for me as often.

I pretty much give up after Ante 8 most of the time, I never managed to get past the 12th Ante and I only got there once or twice.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Yea theres a lot of Jokers for Straights like 4 cards and gap in between, so obviously it works. Its just a quirk of my brain. Feels to me like if Im trying to play Straights I'll have 23467810 and not know what to throw away. Aiming for Full House I can buff the pairs and 3 of a kind with planet cards to fall back on and I can load the deck with extras of the cards I want to pull to improve my chances. Also the 2 Pair and Pair Jokers that buff hands including those also work on Full House which is a big bonus.

What cards do you delete or buy to improve chances of a Straight and which cards do you enhance so that youre using them more often in your hands when youre using Straights? With Flush feels like I always hit the boss blind that debuffs the suit Im using, unless you get the Joker that makes all Red and Black cards work together which is pot luck. I guess if youre combining it with Straight then you just fall back on that to mitigate it. I should experiment, but it feels harder to build into, I have tried quite a bit because RNG sometimes forces it but it just hasnt worked for me as often.

I pretty much give up after Ante 8 most of the time, I never managed to get past the 12th Ante and I only got there once or twice.

Except for the game where I got the joker that made all the red cards the same (and black cards), flush is just a backup. for instance if I get the boss blind and { can't repeat hands, so I don't get rid of cards in that case. I really need ro, though.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I pretty much give up after Ante 8 most of the time, I never managed to get past the 12th Ante and I only got there once or twice.

I haven't gotten to the 12th ante yet, but I've only ventured past the end of the game twice and got stopped on 11th. I'm also not sure but I may have elevated antes during endless because I've been playing on a higher difficulty. When I get ready for endless, I'll be heading back to the easiest deck and settings I can find.

Um, if my writing is very hard to understand today, I'm not in very good mental shape, as I haven't slept lately.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I haven't gotten to the 12th ante yet, but I've only ventured past the end of the game twice and got stopped on 11th. I'm also not sure but I may have elevated antes during endless because I've been playing on a higher difficulty. When I get ready for endless, I'll be heading back to the easiest deck and settings I can find.

Um, if my writing is very hard to understand today, I'm not in very good mental shape, as I haven't slept lately.

I think I have most decks up to the Blue Stake on my Switch, so it was probably on the lower difficulties I got further. Like I said I stopped bothering once I hit 8 after a bit because I just wanted to level up each deck to the next difficulty.

I was just fishing for tips on making Straights work, because theres a whole lot of times I get great Jokers for them but shy away from taking them because I dont seem to be able to pull the cards as often as I can with other set ups.

Your writing is fine. Sorry if my posts are hard to read, Ive been working long hours and I'm exhausted most of the time.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I think I have most decks up to the Blue Stake on my Switch, so it was probably on the lower difficulties I got further. Like I said I stopped bothering once I hit 8 after a bit because I just wanted to level up each deck to the next difficulty.

I was just fishing for tips on making Straights work, because theres a whole lot of times I get great Jokers for them but shy away from taking them because I dont seem to be able to pull the cards as often as I can with other set ups.

Your writing is fine. Sorry if my posts are hard to read, Ive been working long hours and I'm exhausted most of the time.

I'm not sure I explained it very well. I kept nodding off while writing. Let me try to do an overview.

1) At base, you get 8 cards to work with. That makes straights much easier to get. If you have 5,6,7,8 showing, you can burn 4 cards 3 times if necessary to try to get a 4 or 9.

2) What? Burn all your discards immediately? Sure, unless there's some evil Boss Blind rule that makes it a terrible idea. I always try to make a great hand immediately. Then if I have to, I can fall back on my backup hands, like Pair and High Card. And when I set my High Card down, I put 4 cards I don't want with it, which is very much like getting more discards.

3) VERY IMPORTANT! Why do I consider straights important? Because of their planet card. You get more boost from these than from just about any other planet card. Example: Straight +3 Multi +30 Chips; Flush +2Multi +15 Chips. You only need to upgrade twice to get to +10 Multi.

4) Jokers that make it easier (sorry, don't know what they are called)
Joker 1) Lets you put space between the numbers. Now it's almost hard not to make straights
Joker 2) Straight and flushes can be made with 4 cards
Joker 3) There is one that lets you raise the hand's level by discarding a straight, which under these circumstances I'll do every turn.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Ive never noticed that Straight actually scales higher than everything except 4 of a kind and Straight Flush! Thats weird, but obviously a choice.

Had a bit of success with it last night although on on Blue Deck with the White stake easy mode. Won the 8th Ante anyway.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Ive never noticed that Straight actually scales higher than everything except 4 of a kind and Straight Flush! Thats weird, but obviously a choice.

Had a bit of success with it last night although on on Blue Deck with the White stake easy mode. Won the 8th Ante anyway.

I've been having a really hard time earning money and planet cards. The game is just not giving them to me as often as it used to, and now you don't get paid the same way for small blinds.

One thing I'm going to probably not do anymore is get the Face Card bonus Jokers unless I have the "everything is a facecard" joker as well. It just messes me up trying to make hands since I was at ante 5 and hadn't been able to improve either my High Card or my Pair.

 

[Zed Clampet]

You know, after my recent experiences with Balatro, me trying to give other people tips about playing the game is probably going to end up in the Clueless Humanity Hall of Fame.

I swear, though, the RNG has just been brutal. I'm still not getting jokers to help me earn money, and I'm getting about 4 or 5 options to buy planet cards over the entire course of a game. I've almost decided to quit playing altogether.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

You know, after my recent experiences with Balatro, me trying to give other people tips about playing the game is probably going to end up in the Clueless Humanity Hall of Fame.

I swear, though, the RNG has just been brutal. I'm still not getting jokers to help me earn money, and I'm getting about 4 or 5 options to buy planet cards over the entire course of a game. I've almost decided to quit playing altogether.

Some runs you dont get many. There is a Joker that gives +1 multi for every tarot card used, and one that does +0.2X multi for skipping booster packs and one that does it for cycling the shop and more. There are ways to scale the multiplier round to round without hitting planet cards. Steel cards and other enhanced cards really start to jack up the score later on when you start cutting down the deck.

I think sometimes I make more money from Tarot Cards than Jokers, theres one that doubles money up to a max of 20 and one that gives you the sell value of all your Jokers as well. Skipping a blind to get all free cards and boosters in the next shop sometimes works out for that.

But yea there doesnt seem to always be a way around things, sometimes youre just dead because RNG. Ive pulled the Joker that scales with Planet cards used and not picked up any more planet cards after that until failing more than once.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Some runs you dont get many. There is a Joker that gives +1 multi for every tarot card used, and one that does +0.2X multi for skipping booster packs and one that does it for cycling the shop and more. There are ways to scale the multiplier round to round without hitting planet cards. Steel cards and other enhanced cards really start to jack up the score later on when you start cutting down the deck.

I think sometimes I make more money from Tarot Cards than Jokers, theres one that doubles money up to a max of 20 and one that gives you the sell value of all your Jokers as well. Skipping a blind to get all free cards and boosters in the next shop sometimes works out for that.

But yea there doesnt seem to always be a way around things, sometimes youre just dead because RNG. Ive pulled the Joker that scales with Planet cards used and not picked up any more planet cards after that until failing more than once.

Yeah, you can definitely make a lot of money off of Tarot cards, but you have to get the right ones and it helps if you already have money when it wants to double it.

I'm not sure that there is an adequate method of scaling the multiplier if you take away another facet of the game if you are shooting for endless play. Just winning the base game, sure, What you really need are high initial numbers, created with planet cards, followed by glass cards that get counted multiple times and then several good xmulti jokers, like the one I just had that went up 0.25 every time you skipped a blind.

Unfortunately, for endless I think there's only one way to play.

This helps too:

 

[Pifanjr]

Yeah, you can definitely make a lot of money off of Tarot cards, but you have to get the right ones and it helps if you already have money when it wants to double it.

I'm not sure that there is an adequate method of scaling the multiplier if you take away another facet of the game if you are shooting for endless play. Just winning the base game, sure, What you really need are high initial numbers, created with planet cards, followed by glass cards that get counted multiple times and then several good xmulti jokers, like the one I just had that went up 0.25 every time you skipped a blind.

Unfortunately, for endless I think there's only one way to play.

This helps too:

I believe the main strategy for endless is just to hope for as many good negative jokers as possible and it seems there are only a handful of builds that can make it past ante 12 consistently.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I believe the main strategy for endless is just to hope for as many good negative jokers as possible and it seems there are only a handful of builds that can make it past ante 12 consistently.

Well, you need that, but realistically that only takes you so far. The main strategy is "Everything".

 

[Zed Clampet]

I'm done with Balatro. I fully understand it now, which means there's nothing left but RNG. But more than that, I ran across a point in a deck where the developer specifically sabotages you. So RNG isn't bad enough, he had to add a special condition to a Boss Blind for one deck that is a major dick move.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Yeah, you can definitely make a lot of money off of Tarot cards, but you have to get the right ones and it helps if you already have money when it wants to double it.

Early on I usually only spend down to the next multiple of 5 to try and build up the interest, so by the first boss blind I'd have 10 or 15 in the bank maybe more. Obviously thats not a rule, sometimes a Joker is worth paying out for.

I'm not sure that there is an adequate method of scaling the multiplier if you take away another facet of the game if you are shooting for endless play. Just winning the base game, sure, What you really need are high initial numbers, created with planet cards, followed by glass cards that get counted multiple times and then several good xmulti jokers, like the one I just had that went up 0.25 every time you skipped a blind.

Unfortunately, for endless I think there's only one way to play.

This helps too:

Interesting, So, after a bit of a noodle around, it seems that if youre going for Straights a lot Planet cards are way more important.

The reason it scales better than other hands with Planet cards is to compensate for the fact a lot of the deck editing that helps for the other hands with Tarot and Spectral cards isnt useful for Straights. Removing or adding cards to the deck doesnt improve your chances of getting one without a ton of work, and because of that adding tags, chip, and multi bonuses to cards isnt as powerful as easily. I kind of wondered that in an earlier post but hadnt really put it together properly.

With 2 pair and good jokers, it only scales x1 per level on planets, so the % increase becomes minimal after a few levels.

Im not sure at all on strategies for endless, if I have a monster setup I might carry on occasionally but its all just luck for me after ante 8, before that its probably 50/50.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Early on I usually only spend down to the next multiple of 5 to try and build up the interest, so by the first boss blind I'd have 10 or 15 in the bank maybe more. Obviously thats not a rule, sometimes a Joker is worth paying out for.




Interesting, So, after a bit of a noodle around, it seems that if youre going for Straights a lot Planet cards are way more important.

The reason it scales better than other hands with Planet cards is to compensate for the fact a lot of the deck editing that helps for the other hands with Tarot and Spectral cards isnt useful for Straights. Removing or adding cards to the deck doesnt improve your chances of getting one without a ton of work, and because of that adding tags, chip, and multi bonuses to cards isnt as powerful as easily. I kind of wondered that in an earlier post but hadnt really put it together properly.

With 2 pair and good jokers, it only scales x1 per level on planets, so the % increase becomes minimal after a few levels.

Im not sure at all on strategies for endless, if I have a monster setup I might carry on occasionally but its all just luck for me after ante 8, before that its probably 50/50.

As I said, the straights are a backup unless I get specific jokers, nice to hit every now and then.

But you can't take bull poop and make a solid gold bar out of it. The difference between a Pair that is at level one and a 2 versus a pair that has been moderately upgraded to a 12 is about a million coins if you have one x2 joker, one x3 joker and 5 glass cards.

Along those lines, I wouldn't waste tarot cards adjusting my deck to hit pairs. It would be far better to boost the cards than to delete them.

Anyway, the best way to improve hand levels is through jokers. There are jokers that let you upgrade your hand every round if you can get a hold of one. You can also mark cards so that they'll drop the planet card you need when the round is over.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Im not denying theres a lot of RNG involved, always said so. Theres multiple ways to do everything, unfortunately that RNG means that sometimes you occasionally dont get access to any of them.

How I've had most success is from scaling a mixture. Pair and 2 Pair are very easy to get and have plenty of Jokers to get you through early game, 3 of a kind also fits here. Later once you start editing and enhancing the deck Full Houses become very easy to get and have a way higher base multi. Full house has a 3 of a kind, Pair and a 2 Pair inside it so all the Jokers that work on those hands work on Full house too. Theres also stuff like Flush Houses and 5 of a Kind if you Spectral card or change the suits up that score big as well.

It was just intuitive to me in a way that Straights and Flushes arent, just trying to get outside of my box a bit and understand how other ways work.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Ugh. I'm still playing Balatro

I can't remember the last time I've lost a game on the first two difficulties, so at least I have that going for me. I can always find a way, regardless of RNG, to win those.

Im not denying theres a lot of RNG involved, always said so. Theres multiple ways to do everything, unfortunately that RNG means that sometimes you occasionally dont get access to any of them.

How I've had most success is from scaling a mixture. Pair and 2 Pair are very easy to get and have plenty of Jokers to get you through early game, 3 of a kind also fits here. Later once you start editing and enhancing the deck Full Houses become very easy to get and have a way higher base multi. Full house has a 3 of a kind, Pair and a 2 Pair inside it so all the Jokers that work on those hands work on Full house too. Theres also stuff like Flush Houses and 5 of a Kind if you Spectral card or change the suits up that score big as well.

It was just intuitive to me in a way that Straights and Flushes arent, just trying to get outside of my box a bit and understand how other ways work.

The thing is, a pair, two pair, and three of a kind all have a pair in them, so from my perspective it's a waste of resources to improve all three, and I just focus on "a pair". You could say the same thing for High Card versus everything else, and that would be valid, as well, but a Pair is very nearly as easy to make as High Card and getting to count an extra card makes a huge difference (if you don't have Splash, which I usually try to have)

Here's EXACTLY how I handle planet cards. If I open a pack and Pair is available, I buy it. Doesn't matter what else is available. I always buy Pair if it is there.

If Pair isn't there, I buy Straight or Flush. Why would I improve Two Pair or 3 of a Kind when I already have that scenario (multiple copies of cards with the same rank) covered with Pair? Focusing on only one of those three pays big benefits long term. These two, Straight or Flush, offer the chance at a significantly better payday and help cover situations where you don't have a pair. But if none of these three 3 are available, I'll pick High Card, although I can't remember the last time I actually played High Card. After that I don't care and would just pick something random, but generally I would take Straight Flush if available.

If I am given a free planet card for something other than Pair, Straight, Flush or High Card, I sell it.

NOTE on real poker (this has nothing to do with Balatro): At a table of 9 average people, if you have a Straight or a Flush you are almost certainly going to win. One big reason for this is because people will fold instead of trying to get a Straight or Flush. They don't feel comfortable staying in the game if they don't have at least a Pair. And if they have Two Pair or 3 of a Kind, you can help yourself to ALL their money. HOWEVER, while they usually won't try to get a Straight or a Flush, they will definitely try to get a Full House (since they are filled with confidence by the fact that they already have at least a Pair or better in their hand), so there's a chance you can loose a chunk of your own money, as well. But the odds are with you, and that's all you can worry about.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Ugh. I'm still playing Balatro

I can't remember the last time I've lost a game on the first two difficulties, so at least I have that going for me. I can always find a way, regardless of RNG, to win those.



The thing is, a pair, two pair, and three of a kind all have a pair in them, so from my perspective it's a waste of resources to improve all three, and I just focus on "a pair". You could say the same thing for High Card versus everything else, and that would be valid, as well, but a Pair is very nearly as easy to make as High Card and getting to count an extra card makes a huge difference (if you don't have Splash, which I usually try to have)

Here's EXACTLY how I handle planet cards. If I open a pack and Pair is available, I buy it. Doesn't matter what else is available. I always buy Pair if it is there.

If Pair isn't there, I buy Straight or Flush. Why would I improve Two Pair or 3 of a Kind when I already have that scenario (multiple copies of cards with the same rank) covered with Pair? Focusing on only one of those three pays big benefits long term. These two, Straight or Flush, offer the chance at a significantly better payday and help cover situations where you don't have a pair. But if none of these three 3 are available, I'll pick High Card, although I can't remember the last time I actually played High Card. After that I don't care and would just pick something random, but generally I would take Straight Flush if available.

If I am given a free planet card for something other than Pair, Straight, Flush or High Card, I sell it.

Ive been looking around and it seems like we've stumbled onto a well trodden debate in the Balatro community over whether Straights or Full House is better. I'm not any kind of statistician or mathematician to get into working out all the actual probabilities, so I'll just keep playing by my feelies

If the only decent Jokers available early on focus on Straights or Flushes then I do try to go that way, the problem is that I just havent had as consistant success with that. Thats obviously at least partly a me problem due to some choices that Im making somewhere, so I'll try some of your tips next time I'm into a Straight build.

Anyway I didnt mean I would always try and level all of the hands I mentioned, I would usually focus on one whichever one of them is most viable based on Jokers and other stuff that appears, and then later on Full House once theres a lot of duplicate cards. If I pull a planet card pack that doesnt have one of my main hands Ill just get whatever is most useful there. I play a bit differently to you in that I hardly ever focus hard on Pair or High Card out of those options, its usually 2 Pair or 3 of a Kind, because the Pair Jokers also work for both of those and they score higher due to having more cards in them.