DO EEEEET!

I will not accept!

Baltaro is the kind of game I've had in my head for several years now.  I coded up a Poker machine sim and a Poker Solitaire game on my CPC-464 back in the late 80s'  I had added a blackjack bonus game to the poker machine to sit alongside the traditional hi-lo game that you got to play after getting a winning hand that let you improve your credits and I produced a score at game over consisting of the product of the max credits you held and the number of hands you played.  Poker Solitaire is a enjoyable game too and I've had ideas for increasing its complexity too and also for creating linkages to the poker machine sim.

Since then I've oft thought about an enhanced game with a load of bonuses to look out for while playing with the aim to earn cards to place on a 5x5 poker solitaire grid. There was a minor deck building element to it but nothing like what Baltaro has which is way beyond what I had in mind. I've had the design for my game on paper for some time but of course never got off my arse and coded it up.

So it's pleasing to see something like this and even more pleasing to see it do well.  It might even inspire me to get off my arse and start coding again.

Finally beat the Nebula deck. Was tight all the way through.

Is anyone skipping the small blind at the start of a run? Worth it if you get a token for a free shop after the big blind.

I'm low at the minute re playtime.. Only just unlocked the blue deck. But it seems a good move at the start of a run.

Minnesänger wrote:

The Daddy wrote:

Was tight all the way through.

So, the exact opposite of [forumite]’s [female relation].

Aye, they used to call her Windsock.

I love it but I am pretty useless because I don’t know poker hands too well.

Check when it’s calculating your score - you want both red (multiplier) and blue (chips) to be up towards 100.
It doesn’t really matter which hand you chose to focus on, personally I like pairs as they are easy to get.  Once you decide keep looking for planet cards to level that hand up.  Also look for jokers which scale, there’s one where if you play 4 cards it goes up (think it’s multiplier) each time.  Jokers with no ceiling are essential for late game.
Also look out for the coupon which puts you back a level, giving you more time to ramp up scaling jokers.

Yeah weird I feel like I'm doing all these things.

I've put some hours into this but only really had two good runs. I must be missing something. Noticed I quit to the main menu for the first time since buying the game and a whole bunch of stuff unlocked. Do those cards not show up in your run until you quit out and actually unlock them? If so that's a bit shit.

Been working my way up the difficulties now. Currently on Black Stake and having a very good time.

The Daddy wrote:

I’ve cleared all the decks that unlock on default difficulty. Some fun twists in there. Gonna have a break before trying the harder ones.

That's the same point I am at.  
Tried Red difficulty, didn't feel it made it that much harder - just need to fix get some cash.

Absolute mare yesterday. Was trying to build a run through to later antes. Had loads of mult stuff going on, based around flushes with clubs. Hit a boss blind at ante 10 that debuffed clubs, so kept ditching my clubs, but didn’t realise my flush tactic still scored well enough until it was too late. Only needed to hit two flushes to win, but threw so much away that I only managed to make one. So annoyed.

I have only have two more decks to unlock, stuck on the green difficulty - utter bitch

Both, but wait until you have a strat for the run you’re on.

Early game - simple additive joker(s) so you can minimise spending for the first couple of antes (build up some interest). Look out for good temporary jokers that you can use to build some cash and sell back later.

Mid-game - try and get some mult-mult jokers if poss, or build a strat around the jokers you’ve picked up. Use tarot cards to modify your deck to suit the jokers and planet cards to boost the hand(s) you’re playing most frequently.

Late-game - if you haven’t hit any mult-mult jokers you won’t make it past ante 10ish.