It sounds like this is just a relic of you beating the well-designed tutorial? Once you start advancing through the decks and difficulties, as well as unlocking more vouchers and jokers, it becomes quite complex. I have many, many hours in it and I can't even beat ante 8 on White Stake consistently. But streamers can consistently beat Gold Stake, as well as playing PvP, so it's clearly not a cookie clicker.
It’s literally “number go up”, there’s barely any “fluff”, and that bugs me for a reason.
In that regard, it reminds me of cookie clicker, although it distills different aspects. That, too, I stopped playing pretty quickly. I saw coworkers who would play it all the time in the background, and that kind of put me off. Almost philosophically.
Balatro has more “game” than Cookie Clicker, but I’m still slightly repelled by its relatively direct “number go up” aspect. (“Repelled” is a bit of a strong and rude word, but I couldn’t think of anything better right now. I don’t hate Balatro.)