Poker Hands

Poker Hands are sets of one to five cards that can be played in Balatro to obtain Chips and Mult for scoring. Each hand also has a level that affects its potency. In general, the more difficult it is to play a certain Poker Hand, the higher its base score will be. For example, a Pair will score for much less than a Four of a Kind.

At the beginning of a run, all Hands start at Level 1, and are generally upgraded through Planet cards. Hands can also be upgraded with the Orbital Tag ( Orbital tag.png), the Black Hole (Upgrade every [[Poker Hands|{{hl|purple|poker hand}}]] by {{hl|orange|1}} level Available from start. Spectral Black Hole.png) Spectral card, Burnt Joker (Upgrade the level of the first {{hl|orange|discarded}} poker hand each round Sell 50 cards. Rare Effect On Discard Burnt Joker.png), and Space Joker ({{hl|green|1 in 4}} chance to upgrade level of played [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] Uncommon Effect On Played Space Joker.png). The level can also be permanently decreased by The Arm ( Boss The Arm.png). There is no limit to how many times a Poker Hand can be leveled up. Furthermore, the Poker Hand levels are reset back to Level 1 each time when starting a new run.

Higher-tier hands take precedence over lower-tier hands regardless of their level or scoring. For example, if the hand is 9 9 9 9 2, and all of them are diamonds, the hand will always be a Four of a Kind and never a Flush. By selecting the desired cards before playing them, it is possible to check which Poker Hand it will count as on the left-hand side, over the scoreboard. An exception to this is when playing against a Boss Blind that turns cards in hand face down which, when selected, will make the poker hand name appear as "???" until it is played.

Generally, only the cards relevant to the hand are scored. All others are not scored. For example, if an Ace is played as a High Card with 4 other cards, only the High Card base amount and the Ace's values are used for the hand's score. The other cards (up to 4) are just discarded and have no effect. However, sometimes it can be beneficial to play extra cards as an extra discard while still having the main hand score. This would not work with any hand that requires five cards to be played. The main exceptions to this rule are with Splash (Every {{hl|orange|played card}} counts in scoring Common Effect N/A (Passive) Splash.png), which explicitly allows all played cards to be scored, with Four Fingers (All {{ph|Flushes}} and {{ph|Straights}} can be made with 4 cards Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Four Fingers.png), which can be used to score a Straight that contains two cards of matching rank (A A K Q J); and with Stone Cards ({{chips|+50}}<br>no rank or suit Stone Card.png) to gain an extra +50 Chips.

Poker Hand	Base Scoring	Planet Card	How to Play the Hand	Example
High Card	5 Chips x 1 Mult	Pluto (Increases {{ph|High Card}} hand value by {{mult|+1}} and {{chips|+10}} Available from start. Planet Pluto.png) +1 Mult, +10 Chips	When no other hand is possible, scores whichever played card is the highest rank.
Pair	10 Chips x 2 Mult	Mercury (Increases {{ph|Pair}} hand value by {{mult|+1}} and {{chips|+15}} Available from start. Planet Mercury.png) +1 Mult, +15 Chips	Two cards with a matching rank. Suits may be different.
Two Pair	20 Chips x 2 Mult	Uranus (Increases {{ph|Two Pair}} hand value by {{mult|+1}} and {{chips|+20}} Available from start. Planet Uranus.png) +1 Mult, +20 Chips	Two cards with a matching rank and two cards with a different matching rank. Suits may be different.
Three of a Kind	30 Chips x 3 Mult	Venus (Increases {{ph|Three of a Kind}} hand value by {{mult|+2}} and {{chips|+20}} Available from start. Planet Venus.png) +2 Mult, +20 Chips	Three cards with a matching rank. Suits may be different.
Straight	30 Chips x 4 Mult	Saturn (Increases {{ph|Straight}} hand value by {{mult|+3}} and {{chips|+30}} Available from start. Planet Saturn.png) +3 Mult, +30 Chips	Five cards with ranks that are in consecutive order. Suits may be different. Aces can be counted as high (A K Q J 10) or low (A 2 3 4 5), but not at the same time (K A 2 3 4 is not valid).
Flush	35 Chips x 4 Mult	Jupiter (Increases {{ph|Flush}} hand value by {{mult|+2}} and {{chips|+15}} Available from start. Planet Jupiter.png) +2 Mult, +15 Chips	Five cards of any rank that all share the same suit.
Full House	40 Chips x 4 Mult	Earth (Increases {{ph|Full House}} hand value by {{mult|+2}} and {{chips|+25}} Available from start. Planet Earth.png) +2 Mult, +25 Chips	Three cards with a matching rank and two cards with a different matching rank, with cards from at least two or more suits.
Four of a Kind	60 Chips x 7 Mult	Mars (Increases {{ph|Four of a Kind}} hand value by {{mult|+3}} and {{chips|+30}} Available from start. Planet Mars.png) +3 Mult, +30 Chips	Four cards with a matching rank. Suits may be different.
Straight Flush	100 Chips x 8 Mult	Neptune (Increases {{ph|Straight Flush}} hand value by {{mult|+4}} and {{chips|+40}} Available from start. Planet Neptune.png) +4 Mult, +40 Chips	Five cards in consecutive order that all share the same suit.
Royal Flush	100 Chips x 8 Mult	Neptune (Increases {{ph|Straight Flush}} hand value by {{mult|+4}} and {{chips|+40}} Available from start. Planet Neptune.png) +4 Mult, +40 Chips	A Straight Flush that contains an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 10 on the same suit. (For most purposes, such as hand levels, number of hands played for Obelisk and Supernova and hands for The Eye and The Mouth, this is equivalent to a Straight Flush.)

There are three "secret" Poker Hands that are only possible through adding more playing cards to the deck, or changing existing cards with Consumables or Jokers. These Poker Hands will not appear in the Run Info screen until they have been played at least once, after which they will show up on the info menu, and their respective Planet Cards will be obtainable only during the current run. These Poker Hands will also be upgraded by Black Hole (Upgrade every [[Poker Hands|{{hl|purple|poker hand}}]] by {{hl|orange|1}} level Available from start. Spectral Black Hole.png), even before they are unlocked.

Poker Hand	Base Scoring	Planet Card	How to Play the Hand	Example
Five of a Kind	120 Chips x 12 Mult	Planet X (Increases {{ph|Five of a Kind}} hand value by {{mult|+3}} and {{chips|+35}} Play {{ph|Five of a Kind}} during the current run Planet Planet X.png) +3 Mult, +35 Chips	Five cards with the same rank which are not all the same suit.
Flush House	140 Chips x 14 Mult	Ceres (Increases {{ph|Flush House}} hand value by {{mult|+4}} and {{chips|+40}} Play {{ph|Flush House}} during the current run Planet Ceres.png) +4 Mult, +40 Chips	Three cards with the same rank, and two cards with the same rank, all from a single suit.
Flush Five	160 Chips x 16 Mult	Eris (Increases {{ph|Flush Five}} hand value by {{mult|+3}} and {{chips|+50}} Play {{ph|Flush Five}} during the current run Planet Eris.png) +3 Mult, +50 Chips	Five cards with the same rank and same suit.

• The exact judgment criteria of a Straight Flush is "any hand which is both a Straight and a Flush". With Four Fingers (All {{ph|Flushes}} and {{ph|Straights}} can be made with 4 cards Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Four Fingers.png), it's possible to make a Straight Flush with such cards as 9♠️ 8♠️ 7♥️ 6♠️ 3♠️. Additionally, a Royal Flush is "a Straight Flush with all cards of rank 10 or higher".
  • Similarly, the exact judgment criteria of a Flush House is "any hand which is both a Full House and a Flush". With Four Fingers (All {{ph|Flushes}} and {{ph|Straights}} can be made with 4 cards Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Four Fingers.png), it's possible to make a Flush House with such cards as 8♠️ 8♠️ 8♥️ 6♠️ 6♠️.
  • In much the same way, the exact judgement criteria of Flush Five is "any hand which is both Five of a Kind and a Flush". With Four Fingers (All {{ph|Flushes}} and {{ph|Straights}} can be made with 4 cards Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Four Fingers.png), it's possible to make a Flush Five with 5 cards of the same rank, of which only 4 are of the same suit.
• Two Pair and Full House require that the cards are of different ranks. Thus, Four of a Kind, Five of a Kind, and Flush Five are not considered as containing Two Pair, and Five of a Kind and Flush Five do not contain a Full House.
• A poker hand's type is unaffected by the card order. For example, a Straight will still count as one, even if the cards are played as 10, Ace, Queen, King, Jack. This makes it useful with Jokers like Hanging Chad (Retrigger {{hl|orange|first}} played card used in scoring {{hl|orange|2}} additional times Beat a Boss Blind with a {{ph|High Card}} Common Retrigger On Scored Hanging Chad.png), so certain cards in the scoring order can maximize their potential.
• In older versions, it was possible for poker hands to be decreased to Level 0, by playing a hand of Level 1 during The Arm ( Boss The Arm.png). This was changed to a minimum of level 1 in 1.0.0k.
• Unlike most Poker Hands that level up through the use of a Planet Card, the Royal Flush instead levels up alongside the Straight Flush.

• X(number) of a kind are sometimes referred as Xoak (for example, 3oak/4oak) for short in the community.
• In poker terminology, the two types of straight that Ace can form are called Broadway Straight (A K Q J 10) and Wheel Straight (A 2 3 4 5). These names are sometimes used in the community.
• Each secret poker hand is impossible to encounter when using a standard 52-card deck with 13 cards in each suit.
• Flush Five used to not exist and was considered as Five of a Kind. The Flush Five (with the corresponding planet card Eris (Increases {{ph|Flush Five}} hand value by {{mult|+3}} and {{chips|+50}} Play {{ph|Flush Five}} during the current run Planet Eris.png)) was later introduced in January 2024.^[1]

Regular poker hands

Secret poker hands