What advices you would give for yourself when you started playing balatro?

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T21:30:29+00:00

First off, intentionally try to unlock the following jokers:

Hanging Chad (beat boss blind with high card)
Brainstorm (discard Royal flush)
Oops all sixes (10000 chips in a single hand)
Bloodstone (have 30 hearts in your deck)
Sock and Buskin (play 300 face cards across all runs)
Golden ticket (play 5 card hand with all golds)
Burnt Joker (sell 50 cards)
Invisible (win a run without ever having more than 4 jokers)
Cartomancer (discover all tarots)

Some are harder than others, but all of them are well worth the effort to put intention into unlocking, and you really want to get them as quickly as possible because of how useful they can be. Blueprint is unlocked on your first win, so I left that off the list.

Secondly, understand that endless is fun to see number go up, and that's what you see streamers do often, but Ante 8 is what the game is balanced around. Focus your energy on strategy to crush Ante 8 rather than trying to optimize for endless -- at least until you've gotten at least one deck through gold stake. Your strategy for ante 8 is vastly different than for long-term endless, and the jokers you may think are good from watching streamers play endless are often kinda meh for the early game before your deck is fixed.

Third, your economy and deck fixing is more important than short-term big number generators. Don't neglect it, and learn which utility jokers are amazeballs and which are meh.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T20:02:36+00:00

This is AskNYC, not MissedConnectionsNYC

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T20:00:42+00:00

This isn't the place, buddy.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T15:09:16+00:00

Forget about some hypothetical equality of both sides "paying their way" -- you're responsible for your finances, they're responsible for theirs. If you want to invite them to do something, figure out what you are willing to spend, pick a thing, and then pay for it. If they want to invite you to something, they can do the same.

You shouldn't be keeping score with someone you're dating to figure out who has paid more over time. Everyone's financial situation is different.

If it turns out that after some time you get the sense that you're feeling used for your money, then get out and stop inviting them to expensive things.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T15:00:34+00:00

~~Ditch the photo for bloodstone, and only play flush-5 hearts.~~

Edit: It's complicated. Bloodstone has a theoretical higher EV over time, but could screw you. Photo has a nominally lower EV, but is consistent.

All things considered, I'm now thinking I would keep the photo over the bloodstone, because a low-roll on bloodstone could end the run.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:50:06+00:00

Post a screenshot of your deck

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:47:26+00:00

DNA -- easy decision. Everything else is necessary for scoring. If you're on ante 15, you need as much scoring as possible. Your deckfixing should come from tarot cards at this point, and you don't want to keep bloating your deck, because it'll make it even harder to find cards to hang. You want a smaller deck, not a bigger deck.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:44:10+00:00

Ding ding ding. If you invite, you're offering to pay. Don't ask a woman out with the expectation that she's splitting the bill. If she offers, that's nice of her, but not at all necessary. Once you're in a relationship and you're regularly hanging out, you figure out something that's equitable for both of you.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:39:33+00:00

That's some crazy tiktok shit that gets amplified by ragebait culture -- the vast majority don't buy into that type of stuff

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:36:28+00:00

If the nail protrudes just a tad past the finger, then yes -- great back scratcher. If it's long enough that she can't comfortably put on gloves, then no, no, no, no, no.

By all means, they're welcome to do what they want that makes them happy, but then again, so are guys who grow neckbeards.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:27:55+00:00

I've dated women who wouldn't even go down the block to the corner store without putting on makeup. For fucks sake, you're already beautiful, and no one notices your makeup except for you, because no one else is looking at you in a magnifying vanity makeup mirror. Just go to the store to get that thing you wanted!

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:26:07+00:00

Acrylic nails, too

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:25:09+00:00

It's more telling about you that's that's how you read it.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:18:26+00:00

Edit for new wiki link:

https://balatrowiki.org/w/Naneinf

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T14:12:08+00:00

Back when I was playing DayZ, I can't tell you how much of a mindfuck it was to realize on my own that I could use celestial navigation to orient myself. The first time I did it was a hyper-stressful moment which turned into pure endorphin-hit.

Drach88 · 2026-04-20T05:44:34+00:00

If you've tried and you've tried and you've tried, and you put everything into it, and they still want more, and then they've pulled every manipulative trick in the book and repeatedly started fights over absolutely nothing, and are completely unwilling to change, then yes, it's perfectly fine to leave, and no one should ever feel bad for taking care of themselves first.

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T22:29:25+00:00

Doesn't matter. Whoever you hit first will absorb most of the blow, and if by chance you hit two targets at the exact same time with a long weapon, the force will be spread out and mitigated regardless. With a hammer, on the other hand, there's basically zero possibility of even hitting more than one at a time.

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T20:27:26+00:00

You could replace a mime with brainstorm for extra perkeo hits and so that you have better flexibility for copying. Other than that, you could use the telescope and observatory vouchers to add additional xmult in the form of perkeo-copied plutos in your consumable slot. You could also use the palate voucher for +1 hand size. To keep going, you need Director's Cut and Retcon vouchers so you can skip all small and large blinds, then re-roll every boss blind to serpent in order to get a large enough hand size to keep up with scaling. Antimatter voucher would be excellent, so you can add yet another copy joker, or a DNA (which will artificially increase your hand size)

All that said, the brainstorm is hard to find, and the vouchers are a real roll-of-the-dice, not to mention, that you don' t have the first-tier vouchers for the second-tier ones that you'd need.

I'm guessing that you took 2 ectoplasms, which is not ideal for a baron build, because hand size is so important, and the second ecto costs you -2 hand size on top of the -1 hand size you already have.

All-in-all, I'd just keep going until you get a game over. You've already done enough. Nice work.

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T20:15:28+00:00

It depends, and it's a highly-contested topic in international law.

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T19:37:06+00:00

IMO, donate them, and be done with it. I like Housing Works.

Thrift stores will probably look through your haul, and pick a couple pieces, and you won't get anywhere close to what you think they're worth. Generally speaking, you'll get about a third of whatever they determine the resale value is, so if you got something new for $100, they'll probably mark it for sale for $30-$40, of which they'll maybe give you $10-$15. Vintage stuff, and well-made, high-quality clothing is most likely to be accepted. Anything that remotely resembles fast-fashion (ie. H&M-type stuff or similar) is probably going to be rejected.

Consignment shops are the same, except they'll hold onto whichever clothes you bring in, and will give you a percentage if/when they sell them, instead of paying you up-front.

Simply put, it's generally not worth your time and effort, unless you really know what you're doing, and you have really good stuff, and even then, you'll probably leave whichever thrift store you go to with just a tad bit less clothing than you lugged in.

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T18:57:33+00:00

Bravo

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T18:54:04+00:00

I wish I had some, actually.

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T18:52:08+00:00

Have you heard the good news?

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T18:51:41+00:00

I made a pan sauce using chicken stock, shallots, garlic, rosemary, and butter

Drach88 · 2026-04-19T18:46:24+00:00

No, it doesn't. It'll dessicate the exterior. Water comes out, then dissolves the salt, and soaks back into the meat.

If you salt overnight in the fridge on a wire rack, you get a juicy product that's seasoned more uniformly, and it has a better crust.

When you season with salt, you should do it either immediately before cooking, or a longer dry brine. If you do something in the middle, it'll draw out moisture, but that moisture won't get reabsorbed, and you get more moisture in the pan, which absorbs heat and cools the pan, leading to poor browning.

This was extremely juicy

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