Explanation: Card games usually involve lot of strategy, cunning planning and calculative moves and gambling to play and win the game, when you say ‘you are playing cards’, it may mean that you are playing very safe or taknig calculative steps to move ahead. Each move that you make is after lot of calculation and thinking .

It may also mean that a person is two timing someone.

For example if i say: She has been playing her cards well in their relation, it means that she has not been giving her full to the relationship and does everthing thing in a startegically planned manner.

i hope i have cleared your doubt

kinda like what pharell calls “frontin”