Hour-for-hour, there is no game that is more FUN for me than cards.
Cribbage never really did it for me; I have a board, so now and then I give it a shot,
but never saw much to it. For two, I like Gin better - though it's more a guessing game
with decent players. But, it's the one
my mother taught me.
Our family was big on Poker and Oh Hell. With Hoyles, I got them to try all sorts of different games
(500 and 3-player bridge probably most popular). At college, I brought home Hearts and Pitch.
Pitch is probably my favorite at this point: it's kinda mind-bending. Ah, and eventually Tri-Corner
Rat **** and Guillotine.
A good two player commercial pure card game is Court of the Medici