Balatro's creator has reached poker zen after beating every deck on every difficulty: 'All this time playing has killed any negative emotions I had toward it'

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I have no enemies.

The icon used for Balatro developer LocalThunk on Bluesky.
(Image credit: LocalThunk)

Balatro's creator has no enemies—in fact, he has no negative feelings at all. He has spent so much time plugged into his poker roguelite (and our game of the year for 2024) that he has purged himself of all tempestuous emotions and emerged a new, centred being of pure cards.

As bragged about (rightfully so) on Bluesky, LocalThunk writes: "Beat every deck on every difficulty! I still want to 100% the game, I'm having a really great time and I think I know my game a lot better now. I also think all this time playing has killed any negative emotions I had toward it after all the stress from launch."

In fairness, it has to be pretty intense to release a silly little roguelite you cooked up because you couldn't play Rocket League, only to get showered with awards and praise from all the people you've hypnotized with a pixelated jester, a pristine gameplay loop, and a solid groove. The guy just wants to make videogames.

He did, however, reveal his strat with an invitation to roast him. Though after consulting with some of PC Gamer's more knee-deep Balatro experts, I've been told that his techniques are "mostly normal". There's a lot of two and three-pair runs in there. Perhaps the joke is that LocalThunk, the guy who designed a parlor with a dozen different flavours of ice cream, has gone for plain ol' reliable vanilla bean every time.

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Images shared by Balatro developer Localthunk showing off his most-used cards.
(Image credit: LocalThunk on Bluesky)

I am however seeing a lot of tribalism in the comments about how two pair is based, or something. PC Gamer's own Phil Savage has also informed me that "Hanging Chad is the goat. I will hear no Hanging Chad slander." He then proceeded to pull up his own stats, to prove that "Hanging Chad is a perfectly fine card to have in your top used."

(Image credit: LocalThunk)

Considering he's my boss, I've got no choice but to acquiesce. Hanging Chad is my new god, and I worship at its altar. In all seriousness—it's an impressive feat by LocalThunk, and to hear he's using the bread and butter strategies like the rest of us are is kinda heartwarming. Good ol' two pair, nothing beats that.

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Harvey Randall
Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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