A card he played is a fake (7)
I believe the answer is:
charade
'a fake' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'a card he played' is the wordplay.
'played' indicates an anagram (letters playing around).
'a'+'card'+'he'='acardhe'
'acardhe' anagrammed gives 'CHARADE'.
'is' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for charade that I've seen before include "Ludicrous pretence" , "absurd act" , "Blatant deception" , "Pretence; parlour game" , "Party game using mime" .)