The odds are stacked against someone
Meaning
The circumstances or probabilities are extremely unfavorable, making success very difficult to achieve.
Origin
The phrase vividly conjures the image of a crooked card game from the smoky backrooms of 19th-century gambling dens. A cunning cheat, with a practiced hand, could secretly "stack" the deck, arranging the cards to ensure an opponent faced an insurmountable disadvantage. This deliberate manipulation of the chances, or "odds," against a player provided a powerful, literal image. From the felt tables where fortunes were won and lost through unfair play, the phrase migrated into common parlance, becoming a potent metaphor for any situation where the circumstances themselves are arranged to make success extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible.
Examples
- Despite the fact that the odds are stacked against him, Mark remains optimistic about winning the championship.
- With a tiny budget and a huge competitor, the startup knew the odds were stacked against them, but they persevered.