Balatro, during the early stakes — the game’s version of difficulty settings — is an addictive, immaculately designed roguelike experience.
Once you start runs on Purple Stake and higher though, Balatro can become a frustrating struggle to keep up with the ridiculously high score requirements. Adding to the challenge are the Jokers that can arrive in the Shop debuffed, immortal, or with a rental sticker that requires players to spend extra money in order to keep them. It’s no wonder many Balatro players can feel like their Gold Stake attempts run out of steam without an absolutely perfect start.
For the completionists, there’s hope. Have you considered the small but mighty High Card and Pair strategy? Sure, these hands aren’t as flashy, but they require no setup, which is huge during the higher antes where your number of hands and discards are at a premium. There’s a High Card in every hand after all. I like the Abandoned Deck for this strategy because of its consistency, but each of the 15 decks are viable and come with their own unique built-in perks.
The game plan for Gold Stake is pretty simple. Play High Cards and Pairs, buy Steel Card upgrades when available, and focus on building a star lineup of Jokers that will be your primary method of stacking Chips and Mults. You’ll need at least one good +Chip Joker, one or two +Mult Jokers, and the remaining slots filled out with xMult Jokers.
Here are the Jokers that, when paired with that basic strategy, helped me earn my first wins on the dreaded Gold Stake difficulty.
Burnt Joker (Uncommon)
Upgrade the level of the first discarded poker hand each round
Unless you are using the Red Deck, unfortunately, you only get two discards on Gold Stake, meaning you are dedicating half of them to getting Burnt Joker value. Trust me, though — it’s worth it in the early rounds and makes High Card viable. If the Burnt Joker shows up early, he’s an instant buy. I love the consistent way of upgrading the game’s lowest-value hands. Consider the Burnt Joker as an easy way to scale up both Chips and Mult all in one card, and feel free to toss him out for a better Joker if it’s given you enough value.
Stuntman (Uncommon)
+250 Chips, -2 hand size
The Stuntman provides an obscene amount of chips. Your whole deck is worth 380 Chips. The Stuntman on his own gives 250. If you can copy this Joker, you’re set on Chips for the rest of the game. Don’t be afraid to pivot your strategy if the Stuntman shows up late either; he’s that powerful.
Square Joker (Common)
This Joker gains +4 Chips if played hand has exactly 4 cards
What I like about the Square Joker is you can play any four cards for it to trigger; they don’t all have to score. With it, playing High Cards and Pairs can also function as a way to toss out a couple of cards you don’t want while simultaneously upgrading the Square Joker’s Chip potential.
Castle (Uncommon)
This Joker gains +3 Chips per discarded card from a random Suit. The suit changes every round.
There are two things working against Castle in Gold Stake runs: the -1 hand size and the fact that you only get two discards. Although if you can start ramping it up early, Castle offers a lot of potential as a Chip engine that stays strong through all eight Antes.
Ride the Bus (Common)
+1 Mult for every hand played without a scoring face card. Resets to +0 Mult when a face card is scored.
This is one of my most-played Jokers because it shows up often and is really easy to use. Ride the Bus is a great way to build up your Mult, assuming you read the fine print. The hardest part about Ride the Bus is accidentally playing a face card and watching your Mult bank reset back down to zero.
Supernova (Common)
Adds the number of times poker hand has been played this run to Mult
Supernova offers insane value when you’re spamming the most easily attainable hands. The best part? It doesn’t matter when in the shop Supernova appears because if you’ve been playing nothing but High Cards and Pairs, then its effect is already calculated and comes ready to score big for you.
Green Joker (Common)
+1 Mult per hand played. -1 Mult per discard
If The Green Joker shows up early, prioritize it over anything else in the Shop. It’s another great way to scale your Mults since you won’t be discarding very much, and the plan is to play a lot of hands. However, if the Green Joker shows up late, consider finding better sources because it won’t have the time it needs to grow.
Gros Michel (Common)
+15 Mult, 1 in 6 chance this is destroyed at the end of round
Gros Michel is a solid early pickup. The +15 Mult makes the early antes a piece of cake. Make sure you are leveraging that early strength to build up your economy so you can pick up a good Joker to replace it with when it inevitably perishes. Think of it as a rental Joker. The only reason you’d want to grab this Joker in the mid-to-late antes — and hope it gets destroyed quickly — is for the potential for the powerful golden banana to spawn (in the form of the Cavendish Joker) that gives x3 Mult.
Mystic Summit (Common)
=15 Mult when 0 discards remaining
This Joker is easy to underestimate but can easily carry you through the early antes. You should absolutely pick it up during the early antes. It doesn’t scale though, which makes it much less useful in the later rounds. It’s also awkward and much less efficient alongside the Green Joker.
Blackboard (Uncommon)
x3 Mult if all cards held in hand are Spades or Clubs
Multiplicative Mults are important and necessary for keeping up with the increased blind scaling (just make sure you’re always moving xMult Jokers all the way to right to earn the most points). Blackboard is one of my favorite ways to multiply Mults. You don’t need alter your deck much at all to make this Joker work. Simply play or discard all your red cards each turn and it will trigger. It can also be easily worked around if you don’t want to necessarily win the round in one hand if you’re looking to upgrade your other scalable Jokers.
Card Sharp (Uncommon)
x3 Mult if played poker hand has already been played this round
Card Sharp is practically guaranteed to trigger every round because you won’t have any trouble finding a second High Card or Pair to play. You’ll be naturally playing repeat hands anyway, and that x3 Mult can easily snowball your score. Be aware that Card Sharp is effectively useless when facing certain Boss Blinds like The Needle and The Mouth.
Ramen (Uncommon)
Gives x2 Mult. Loses x0.01 Mult per card discarded
If you don’t have Castle, Mystic Summit, or Burnt Joker, Ramen is a consistent way to get x2 Mult because discarding isn’t as necessary. Even if you do need to discard a couple of times, Ramen remains strong assuming you keep its xMult to at least x1.75.
Baseball Card (Rare)
Uncommon Jokers each give x1.5 Mult
Depending on your build, the Baseball Card can be strong at any point during your run. If you get it early, focus on finding Uncommon Jokers. If you get it later and you already have at least two uncommon Jokers, it’s worth getting for the x2.25 Mult. Without Uncommon Jokers though, it’s functionally a dead card so it’s not an auto-include in every situation.
Acrobat (Uncommon)
x3 Mult on the final hand of the round
Acrobat helps ensure your last hand packs a punch. Paired with scalable flat Mult Jokers like the Green Joker, Acrobat can fuel a last-minute comeback and knock out Boss Blinds out of nowhere. It’s particularly useful against the Needle.
Burglar (Uncommon)
When Blind is selected, gain +3 Hands and lose all discards
Since the High Card/Pair strategy, as well as most of your Jokers, don’t rely on discards, Burglar is almost always useful. This Joker helps you buff your Jokers that like it when you play a lot of hands. Even if you are finishing rounds in one or two hands, Burglar represents a little extra cash too, as you earn an extra dollar for every unused hand at the end of the round. If you encounter Burglar on a Black Deck run, definitely buy it.
Blueprint (Rare)
Copies ability of Joker to the right
Copying Joker abilities is very powerful and can enable some truly nasty combos. Double-check if its effect is compatible with your existing Jokers, but it almost always is. You can move Blueprint around, even between individual actions, to get value depending on your needs. If you need a big Mult for tough rounds, slide it next to your Supernova or Gros Michel. What if you’re in a weaker fight and want to reap some big rewards? Put it next to your Burnt Joker before your first discard. On the final hand, I recommend moving Blueprint to the left of your best xMult Joker, a strategy that has helped me snatch victory many times from the jaws of defeat. Buy Blueprint, and its left-sided variant Brainstorm, every time, no questions asked.
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