Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to play all one's cards

to play all one's cards

6.9
To show all your plans and what you can do
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : mostrar todas sus cartas
  • In the final round of the game, he chose to play all his cards and risk everything for victory.

Examples

  • During the negotiation, the team decided to play all their cards on the final offer to secure the deal.

  • PHOTO (COLOR): Lisa Kemler (left), attorney for Lorena Bobbitt, played all her cards to the female jurors.

    Academic text (1994)

  • She had to play all her cards during the presentation to convince the investors of her plan.

Synonyms

to put cards on the table
vsto play all one's cards
3 4.6

To be completely open and honest about your plans or feelings

is revealing all strategies deliberately in competitive situations
to give the game away
vsto play all one's cards
1 5.5

To tell a secret by accident and spoil a surprise

is deliberate full disclosure of strategies rather than an accidental leak

Antonyms

to conceal
282 3.7

To hide something so others cannot see or find it

to hold back
108 4.2

Keep yourself from showing feelings or telling others

How Revealing

to play all one's cards
  • Informal
6.9
to tip one's hand
  • Informal
7.9
to hold back
108 4.2

Surface Forms

play all one's cards infinitive
played all one's cards past
played all one's cards past participle
playing all one's cards present participle
plays all one's cards third person singular

Morphology

play + all + one + cards

The phrase maps metaphorically from literal card play (playing all your cards = showing your hand), so a learner who knows 'play', 'all', 'one's' and 'cards' can plausibly infer it concerns revealing one's resources or intentions. However, the shift from a concrete gaming action to the abstract sense of exposing strategy requires knowledge of the card-game metaphor and cultural usage, so it is not fully predictable.

Etymology

The idiom play all one's cards may come from card games where players keep their cards hidden and choose when to play them. If you show every card at once you give away your plan, so the phrase now means 'to reveal all your plans or resources'.