show your hand
Disclose your strategy
To show your hand is to reveal your intentions, capabilities, or strategy—especially when keeping them hidden would be advantageous.
The phrase comes from card games, where showing your cards lets opponents know what you're holding: She didn't want to show her hand until negotiations were further along.
Often used with warnings about premature disclosure: Don't show your hand too early.
- revealMake something visible
- call the bluffExpose an empty threat
- pokerHearth implement for coals
- poker faceIntentionally expressionless look
- cardsStiff paper rectangles
tell · expose · disclose · come clean · tip · strategy · game plan · hidden agenda · gamble · fold · bet · all in · intentions · secrets · trump · ante · high stakes · stakes
- Old Idiomsbeyond the pale, hue and cry, scot-free, knight in shining armor, eat humble pie
- Candor Phrasesto be honest, truth be told, honestly, frankly, to tell the truth
- gambling lingoall in, ante up, raise the stakes, go all in, high roller