[ti:'Show Your Hand', other Card Idioms]
[al:Words and Their Stories]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-12-08]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:07.67]And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
[00:18.59]Playing cards is a popular pastime for people of all ages. 
[00:25.85]Some games are easy, while others are complex.
[00:31.18]And people of all walks of life play cards.
[00:36.05]A set of playing cards is called a deck. 
[00:40.46]A deck of cards is not costly and can be bought almost anywhere.
[00:46.92]With one deck of 52 cards, you can play many different games.
[00:53.21]Some of the games include poker, blackjack, bridge, rummy, 500, snap, hearts, and crazy eights ... just to name a few.
[01:06.48]The deck of cards also gives the English language many idioms. 
[01:12.87]Today we will talk about a few of them.
[01:16.11]To win at many card games, you must keep your cards hidden from the other players.
[01:24.18]In many games, the cards you are dealt and play with are called your "hand." 
[01:31.37]If your opponents know your hand, they can easily beat you. 
[01:37.88]Some players keep their cards hidden by holding them to their chest.
[01:43.87]In life, you might need to keep some parts of a plan hidden or secret for them to succeed. 
[01:52.26]You might need to keep your cards close to your chest.
[01:57.23]This idiom means to keep your plans, intentions or methods secret.
[02:04.05]However, with most card games, players must show their cards to the other players at some point, sometimes at the end of the game.
[02:15.95]This gives us two similar idioms - to show your hand and to lay your cards on the table.
[02:26.40]As an idiom, to show your hand or your cards means to tell people your plans or intentions that you had kept hidden.
[02:37.38]The same is true of laying your cards on the table. 
[02:42.93]In many card games, the players must show their cards by placing them face up on the table for everyone to see.
[02:51.92]When we put our cards on the table, we show something that we have kept hidden. 
[02:59.24]These can be things like our reasons for doing something, our intentions or our opinions.
[03:07.88]Now, in a game of cards, luck or chance plays an important part.
[03:15.52]You must play with the cards you are dealt.
[03:19.32]This is the case in life, too.
[03:22.81]Not everything is a choice. 
[03:25.64]Sometimes we must deal with things that are out of our control.
[03:30.54]We must play with the cards we are dealt.
[03:35.01]We can also say play the hand we are dealt.
[03:39.66]So, luck is part of the game.
[03:42.87]We cannot know or predict the cards we are dealt. 
[03:46.75]But sometimes other players cheat. 
[03:51.14]They can do this by stacking the deck.
[03:54.86]When you stack the deck, you add cards to the deck that will help you win. 
[04:01.86]This gives you an unfair advantage.
[04:05.67]In life, we can sometimes feel that things are stacked against us.
[04:11.69]This means that no matter how hard we try, we still struggle.
[04:17.07]We feel as though life has dealt us a bad hand, and we must struggle and fight to gain anything at all.
[04:27.48]For example, if the deck is stacked against you, the odds are not in your favor.
[04:34.94]You might have to struggle against all odds to succeed.
[04:39.69]These are just a few of the idioms English gets from a deck of cards.
[04:46.59]There are many more.
[04:48.96]But that's all the time we have today. 
[04:51.60]Keep listening to Words and Their Stories to learn more!
[04:56.10]Until next time, I'm Anna Matteo.