From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishput/lay your cards on the tableput/lay your cards on the tableHONESTINTENDto tell people what your plans and intentions are in a clear honest way What I’d like us to do is put our cards on the table and discuss the situation in a rational manner. → card
Examples from the Corpus
put/lay your cards on the table• Come on, you can lay your cards on the table in this house.• If we want to reach an agreement, we'll have to lay all our cards on the table.• The new rules appear to encourage parties to lay their cards on the table and facilitate early settlements.• If they're willing to put all their cards on the table and negotiate, that's good.• They're willing to put all their cards on the table and negotiate. 