Less than four at the card table (4)
I believe the answer is:
trey
'card table' is the definition.
'trey' can be an answer for 'card' (I've seen this in another clue). I am not certain of the 'table' bit.
'less than four at the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'rey' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for trey that I've seen is " Three in cards".)