cartear

Most commonly used reflexively, cartearse con alguien means to correspond by letter with someone over time: se cartearon durante años (they wrote to each other for years). In card games, cartear can also mean to lead or play a card, sometimes cagily.

• Se cartearon durante toda la guerra. — They wrote to each other throughout the war.
• Mi abuela se carteaba con una amiga de la infancia. — My grandmother corresponded with a childhood friend.
• En la partida, carteó con cautela para no delatarse. — In the game, he played his cards carefully so as not to give himself away.

The reflexive cartearse (to correspond by letter) is far more common in everyday use than the plain cartear about card-playing — don't drop the se when talking about pen-pal-style correspondence.