Balatro Poker Hands Guide: Every Hand's Base Values and Upgrades

Poker Hand Basics

In Balatro you build a poker hand using up to 5 cards. Every hand has a base Chips and base Mult value, and Planet cards raise both when you level a hand up.

Base Values for Every Hand

Values at level 1 (starting state):

Hand	Base Chips	Base Mult	Planet	How to make it
High Card	5	1	Pluto	A single highest card with no other combination
Pair	10	2	Mercury	Two cards of the same rank
Two Pair	20	2	Uranus	Two separate pairs of different ranks
Three of a Kind	30	3	Venus	Three cards of the same rank
Straight	30	4	Saturn	Five consecutive ranks (e.g. 5-6-7-8-9)
Flush	35	4	Jupiter	Five cards of the same suit
Full House	40	4	Earth	Three of a Kind + Pair
Four of a Kind	60	7	Mars	Four cards of the same rank
Straight Flush	100	8	Neptune	Five consecutive cards of the same suit
Royal Flush	100	8	Neptune	Same-suit 10-J-Q-K-A
Five of a Kind	120	12	Planet X	Five cards of the same rank
Flush House	140	14	Ceres	Full House with all same suit
Flush Five	160	16	Eris	Five cards of the same suit and same rank

Recommended Hand Strategies

Beginner: Flush-focused

Flush is relatively easy to produce and its base Mult is solid. Checkered Deck (two suits) and Smeared Joker (suits share) both raise consistency significantly.

Intermediate: Pair-based scaling

A Pair can evolve into Full House and Four of a Kind. With deck thinning that preserves certain ranks, Four of a Kind and Five of a Kind become realistic.

Advanced: Flush Five-focused

Flush Five has the highest base values. You need 5 cards with the same suit and same rank, which sounds unrealistic, but with deck thinning and card duplication through Cryptid (Spectral), it's achievable.

Planet Priority

Planet cards are a limited resource, so concentrating them on your main hand is the efficient play.

Levels 1→5: the highest efficiency per upgrade
Levels 5→10: required once Ante 5 score demands ramp up
Level 10+: territory reserved for Gold Stake and similar high difficulties

Using Four Fingers

With the joker Four Fingers, Straights and Flushes count at just 4 cards. That frees the remaining card for other roles, enabling far more flexible hand construction.