Isn't there something of a coded message in this. It's more than a harmless conversation about cards. Anne makes a little metaphor out of those who like cards (her family) and those who like theater (the Musgroves) and deliberately puts herself decidedly in the theater camp. To add to this we have had just had the pomp of the Elliots arriving to deliver their invitations and leave their cards. The Elliots play an endless social game in which appearances (bluffing) are more important than any honor, duty or even basic famial love and affection--the stuff of the Musgroves noisier and more theatrical household.

It's as if Anne is distancing herself from her family, including her cousin, when she maintains first to Mrs. Musgrove then to Captain Wentworth, "I am no card player." In the same way that Wentworth's communicated in coded language about "the year six" to Anne at the dinner party, Anne is able to send a message to Wentworth her. My how the tables have turned!