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THE IDIOM COLLECTION LEARN & PRACTISE

Hold all the cards

Understand the meaning. See it in context. Make it yours.

01 / UNDERSTAND

Meaning in plain English

Have all the advantages in a competition or negotiation.

02 / SEE IT IN CONTEXT

The expression in a sentence

  1. With several offers to choose from, the seller held all the cards.

03 / CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Quick idiom quiz

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Can you recall the expression?

Which expression from this lesson matches this meaning?

Have all the advantages in a competition or negotiation.
Show the answer

Hold all the cards — Have all the advantages in a competition or negotiation.

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Make it yours

Write one sentence using “Hold all the cards” about your own life.

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Have all the advantages in a competition or negotiation.

Compare: With several offers to choose from, the seller held all the cards.

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More ways to understand and use it

When to use it

Use this expression when one side has a particularly strong position. It is common in discussions of bargaining power, decisions and competition.

More examples in context

  • They control the only available venue, so they hold all the cards in the negotiation.
  • We thought we held all the cards until another supplier entered the market.

Usage note

Keep plural “cards”. The phrase is figurative and does not require a card game. It describes a strong advantage, rather than a guarantee that every decision will be wise.

A short conversation

A: Can we ask the supplier for a lower price?
B: We can try, but they hold all the cards because nobody else has the part.
A: Let’s look for another option first.

One more practice question

Who holds all the cards in a negotiation?

A. The side with all the significant advantages.
B. The side with no influence and no alternatives.

Check your answer

A. Holding all the cards means having the strongest position through those advantages.

Related lessons

Meaning and usage checked against Cambridge Dictionary. Explanations, examples and conversation are original.

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