Sentence:  Rahm Emanuel was certainly a surprising choice for chief of staff — he's a hard-cussing, old-school-campaign knife fighter and pragmatic congressional arm twister who <WSD>plays to win</WSD>. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To make a special, determined effort to achieve general success or a particular goal, in life, in one's career, in negotiation, etc.