All In: Advanced Strategies for Earning C++ in Balatro

big-hitterBalatro has exploded in popularity since its release in 2024, introducing new players to the world of roguelike deckbuilders. Even the best poker players have been humbled by Balatro, where the strongest hand isn't always the winning hand. 

I admit, I was not good at this game when it was released. Nevertheless, I persisted, and it took over a year to master the game. I will give credit where credit is due; my partner watched hundreds of hours of Balatro University (I watched maybe 10 hours, haha), and passed the knowledge on to me. Today, I collaborated with him to pass the knowledge on to you. 

C++, or Completionist Plus Plus, is the flair you earn yourself once you have a gold seal on every deck and every Joker. It took a lot of time and patience, but it wasn’t extremely difficult. These tips will help you earn your C++ badge of honor or get closer to NanInf (the maximum displayable score). Let’s get started.

Unlock Every Deck and Every Joker

To have access to the most powerful decks and Jokers, you must unlock them. This is a good chance to become familiar with each deck. Some of the locked Jokers are the most powerful in the game; they will be necessary. Head to your collection and click on a Joker with the lock symbol to reveal the unlock requirement. I look at a few conditions and try to get a couple in one run, but sometimes you have to dedicate the entire run to an unlock condition.

"Discard 5 Jacks at the same time" or "Play a hand that contains four 7 of clubs" may be a run focused solely on that challenge. 

Money is Everything - Obtain a Money or Value Joker ASAP

Want a chance at the best Jokers, vouchers, and tarot cards? Well, you'll need money. You'll need to be able to re-roll often. Get a passive money Joker like Golden Joker, or take a money scaling Joker like Rocket, To The Moon, or Satellite. The most powerful money cards will be those you can exploit to make money multiple times per round, like Reserve Parking and Business Card.

Another option is a value Joker, specifically Cartomancer. This Joker gives you one tarot card per blind (two if you use Blueprint to copy it). Each tarot card has a chance to pop Temperance or The Hermit for money, or you can sell ones you don't find useful.

Set Up the Trifecta

Right from the first booster pack you open, you must look for chips and +Mult. Do not worry about X-Mult until you have the chips and +Mult, because it won't have anything to multiply. Grab Blue Joker and Misprint, perfectly fine Jokers for the first few antes. Once you have your chips (blue) and +Mult (red), then you can worry about your X-Mult. Then the trifecta will be complete, and you will just be swapping out better Jokers from here.

Put Your Jokers and Hand in the Correct Order

Once the trifecta has been established, make sure your Jokers are in order. This is math after all, and the X-Mult must be on the very right since they are triggered left to right. Many new players do not order them or fail to realize they can be moved.

The same goes for your hand; If you have Hanging Chad, the power card goes first (lucky, red seal, or glass). Make the math work in your favor.

Become Familiar with Scaling Jokers

Scaling Jokers are those that grow in power with your run, as long as you meet the condition. Some favorites are Supernova, Green Joker, Ride the Bus, and Spare Trousers. If these appear early, grab them- you may have to alter your hand or strategy around these Jokers. For instance, Green Joker is ideal for a high card or a pair run. With Ride the Bus, you may need to thin your deck and remove face cards.

These ARE NOT good Jokers to grab late in the run; They need to build +Mult, therefore I wouldn't take them past ante 4 or 5.

You have a little more wiggle room on X-Mult, but the same rule applies; start building as early as possible.

Master High Card and Pair Runs

The most powerful hands in the game, especially if trying for NanInf, are high cards and pairs. To easily pass the gold stake, you need hands with a low fail rate to draw, and a hand that can make boss blinds obsolete.

The high card and pair are what you use to power up scaling Jokers and spam for your money Joker. For example, if you have 4 hands, 3 of those hands will go to raising a scaling Joker (like Green Joker) or exploiting money, then play a final winning hand. This can be tricky if your math is off, winning too quickly, or losing entirely.

Now obviously you cannot win early antes with a high card or pair, so you will use these to power up money and +Mult, then transition fully to them in later antes.

Avoid Straights and Flushes

Many people fall into the trap of straights and flushes. They seem tempting, but you want to avoid hands where you are constantly discarding to draw your 5th card. The first few antes are the only time you should play these hands.

Flushes scale slower in the late game, falling behind 3-of-a-kind and straights. Straights will have you sweating as you draw over and over for that gutshot on ante 7.

But if you want a hand that is more fun than pairs and high cards, it is much more strategic to transform cards and go for 4-of-a-kind, a powerful alternative later in the game.

Buy Blank Voucher

Go Back In Time: Use Hieroglyph and Petroglyph

This voucher seems risky on the surface: lose a hand or discard to go back one ante. But knowing when to go back in time will save your run. If you are barely squeaking by and still searching for the third Joker in your trifecta, lowering the stakes may be what you need to progress. Mathematically, you are extending your game by about 12.5%, which is pretty significant. If you use both vouchers, then you've extended the game 25% (of the original size).

I thought this card was useless at first, but sometimes you need more time to find the right Joker or get more money. The bottom line is, more scaling, more money, more Jokers, more planet cards, and more deck manipulation

Think Outside the Box with Blueprint and Brainstorm

Copy your mult and chips? Sure. But what if you copied burglar and had 10 hands. What if you placed Blueprint to the left of Space Joker or Burnt Joker for the chance to upgrade your hand two levels? Use them on DNA to create a card-making machine? Or use either one to copy Reserved Parking, for the chance of double-digit money returns rather than single?

Move your Jokers around. That's why you play high cards and pairs; you do not need to search for a hand, you have the winning hand, and can play around with your Jokers. Exploit Blueprint and Brainstorm for money, hands, cards, and poker hand levels. Then, when you're ready to win, move these into the proper order for scoring.

Sicko Mode

If you implement the above and want to score into exponents, you'll need to understand power hands and use Plasma Deck.

Understand Power Hands

As wonderful and unique as this game is, unfortunately, there are only a few big-hitter power hands, and it's all about the re-trigger.

Start early to convert your cards to Kings. DNA and Blueprint are crucial, along with the tarot card Death and the spectral card Cryptid. You will want to start copying Kings once you have a steal or gold red seal King.

Use Plasma Deck for Big Numbers

Plasma Deck balances chips and mult. Since chips always outweigh the mult early in the game, you focus on chips first. The strategy is to go hard on chips and level your poker hand, then transition to power hands with high re-triggers. You can eventually replace your chip Jokers with retrigger Jokers (think Mime, Baron, Hanging Chad, Photograph, Blueprint, Brainstorm, etc.).

Plasma Deck is the only deck where the first ante is very easy to win: because chips are higher on flushes, you can play a flush here and save money for solid long-term Jokers rather than wasting money on purely surviving. Then transition to your pairs.

The most important part of all this is to have fun and try different combinations. This game never gets old, even after two years of playing. I will start a new save, do the challenges, and collect the Jokers again; no two runs are ever the same. Watch Balatro University and practice your first NanInf run, or start collecting those gold seals!