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Reader question: People say: If you play your cards right... What does it mean? My comments: What it means is, if you play your cards right, you’ll probably win. If you’re playing poker, you’ll know exactly what it means. “Play one’s cards right” is inspired from the game of poker, or any other card playing game. By asking you to play your cards right, they’re suggesting for instance that you, first and foremost, keep your cards to your chest lest opponents know what cards you’ve got. And you don’t use all your aces and trump cards (big cards) all at once, leaving smaller cards to fend for themselves later on. In short, by playing our cards right, we’re (at least supposed to be) producing our cards in the right sequence, doing the right things, making no stupid mistakes. This saying is prevalently used in other walks of life, or play, as well and it means the same thing – take advantage of your assets, avoid mistakes and put yourself in a position to win. In card playing, everyone is dealt a hand (handful of cards) to begin with. Good or bad, your hand is what you’ve got. Therefore what you’re supposed to do is not bemoan what a bunch of poor cards you’ve got but to work out a strategy to get the most out of your cards. In life, that’s the attitude one needs to cultivate, too. Instead of complaining about your misfortunes and disadvantages, such as not being born into a rich family, you should count your assets, such as good health, for instance, and start from there. | 
