Can DBA see card data - PCI - DSS So just trying to understand what the industry standard is around DBA's being able to see card number.

As per PCI document 


  7.1 Limit access to system components and cardholder data to only those individuals whose job requires such access.
  7.2 Establish an access control system(s) for systems components that restricts access based on a user’s need to know, and is set to “deny
  all” unless specifically allowed.


So can DBA's with syadmin access ok in seeing card numbers.  If not how is it done in real world?
No.

Preferably card numbers and similar information should be stored in a Vault, where access can be controlled and no single person have full access.

If that is not possible, and the card numbers needs to be stored in the database, then they should always be stored encrypted. 
Many databases have functions that can do the encryption on the database side, although it is best to do it in the application so that the numbers are encrypted before sent over the network.

For instance: 


Postgres: pgcrypto module (pgp/raw encryption)
SQL Server: ENCRYPTBY* functions
Oracle: DBMS_CRYPTO package