It's not too umcommon. Balatro can be a hard game, especially getting into it. There's a lot of moving parts that might be difficult to make use of.

Scaling is your friend. Jokers or mechanics that make you more powerful over time (like planet cards) are good, because you get stronger as the blinds want more score. Conversely, though, immediate power is really good early game.

Make sure you're saving enough money to earn interest. It's essentially just extra income every round as long as you don't spend too much. It's really helpful in letting you afford packs or vouchers. Other sources of economy are helpful too, spending money is one of the best ways to find what you need to win.

(Also, idk if this is the case for you, but a number of players didn't initially know that X Mult is different from + Mult. X Mult *multiplies* your mult.)

If you're getting better and closer it's not 'bad'

Pretty sure some played for 30, 40 hours, maybe more before getting their first win.

The game has many layers. You can mess up by having a bad economy. You can mess up by over spending. You can mess up by not spending enough. You can mess up by investing too much in a specific hand. You can mess up by investing very lightly in all hands. Your joker lineup can be bad, or badly ordered, even if all jokers have a use. You can also lose by not discarding aggressively enough, or by discarding too aggressively.

All those aspects give you some wiggle room, even more at white stake. You don't have to play perfectly. But if one of those aspects is played poorly, you'll have a tougher time. If 2-3 are played badly, you'll likely lose.

If you ever become so desperate that you want more specific tips, just ask.

As long as you are learning every run and having fun, winning is a byproduct of that. Hang in there

It took me more than 24 to get my first win, there are too much combos you have to learn in order to win so yeah, i think is okay.

Yup, here too. I played about 30 hrs before my first win and man proud I was! Now I've played over 200 hrs and I'm at 35 wins. There you go.

Also, a lot of the better jokers require you do stuff to unlock them first. So just trying to unlock stuff might be your best option right now.

Where do you see your win count? I might be blind but I just don't see it on the statistics page

Originally posted by ★★★:

is it normal or skill issue?

Depends on how long it takes you to play, but on base difficulty it shouldn't be too difficult. Make sure to use planet, arcana, and joker cards. Use all the tools at your disposal to increase the multiplier for your played hands. Bad luck will still get you here and there, though.

is 8 ante equal win ?

Originally posted by nightingale2k1:

is 8 ante equal win ?

yes

Originally posted by nightingale2k1:

is 8 ante equal win ?

Beating ante 8 yes, not just reaching it. It has a different boss pool than the other antes.

took me 9 hours to win

13,3h to first win. Now it's easier, I have 17,1h only and 4 wins (1 on 2nd level).

Took me five hours or so. I learned that stacking planet cards on something like a two pair leads to insane amounts of chips.

To anyone else struggling:
Less is more.
Try to focus on pairs. It sounds unlikely, but it's extremely versitile and low maintenance.