A guide to beating your first ante in balatro

Introduction: Why?

Your first ante is the most important time to get your game going: get a good joker, start your economy off and pick hieroglyph if the option presents itself. All of these require MONEY, which is where the art of the one hand win comes in. Hands are one of the only constant ways you'll have to earning cash and the only method that's available to you from the very first blind, you'll need to maximise your profits to allow you to make the most important choices in the early game to allow you win more runs than not.

First blind:

Realistically you want to go for full house, flush or straight. You need a 75 in chips minimum to win with one hand.

For full house that's 2 6's & 3 A's minimum or more consistently 3 10's and 2 8's Anything below should be scrapped

I've found full house to be the easiest to achieve.

For straight you need a straight to start from atleast a queen.

For flush you need 40 chips, doing the quick math works best, but your absolute worst option is a 10 till 6.

Shops in ante one

In the shop, this early on, you want something game defining or something that can make more money; I'd advise against getting a cheap mult or chip joker because it's a money sink most of the time, you can easily pass through ante one without bothering with your joker lineup, the only exception to this rule are generally good jokers I find (maybe I should do a tierlist).

You should avoid rerolling this early on, you'll probably not even be able to afford anything of worth after you've blown the 5 quid.

A scaling mult joker or a good enabling joker (a joker that's a key piece to a synergy) should be considered, still it's best to get a joker that can function on its own without the synergy: if faced with a choice between Midas and vampire for example in the first shop, go for the midas. While both are key for a synergy Midas can yield considerable value on it's own, vamp cannot (easily and cost effectively do so).

If you find a useful voucher, don't get it until your second blind shop. This rule can be carried with you throughout the game, I still haven't found reason to deviate from it. Why? It's to garner interest, an extra dollar here and there stacks up quick.

Avoid packs, unless they're spectral. Card packs have too much of a chance to give you cards that don't provide any long lasting value, you want a gold or sealed card this early on- something that gives you real value- it's too much of a risk this early on to invest in card packs. Tarot packs this early on don't really have any tarots that provide long lasting value, you're either too unsure or unprepared or undeveloped to gain any real value this early, leave em behind for now.

Second blind

Imma be real with you 2 hands is more consistent here, but go for the 4 of a kind for a one hand. A straight flush is too unlikely, I never go for them. A four of a kind is better off, still it's a risky bet nonetheless. Any rank is suitable for these two.

Now as for 2 hands...

I'd drop the possible combinations of two hands, but regardless I feel the best advice is just go for a high full house and then make up the difference after. Doing the quick math is hard, but you'll eventually be able to feel yourself through it, like how passing through this game is, by feel.

The first boss blind

A completely unaltered deck and hands allows you only 2 possible ways to win with one hand: a four of a kind with 86+ chips or a straight . Both very difficult to obtain. It's more safe to go for your two hand here, so just follow the guide for the big blind.

conclusion

I want to say foremostly, I'm not the greatest balatro player. I just wanted to share what I've noticed after quite a few runs and one deck completed (I've gold sealed the a abandoned deck). I'm open to other's opinions on the matter and interested in learning from others better than me. Alright hope you enjoyed this, bye.

miscellaneous advice

If you have a flush build at the back of your mind a all suit cards are disabled boss blinds is your cue as to what suit to build your flush deck.

Don't skip the blinds early on, the only time I skip is when I get the $25 tag (because that's the economy jumpstart) asides from that there really isn't a good reason to in ante 1, get your money up instead.

Still play it - the game is structured around you feeling your way through, at high enough antes you reasonably cannot calculate every hand before you play to check if it's optimal. Sometimes what you feel out is wrong! So learn to just play the best hand available to you at certain times and just see what you get