GM: "You see a man in a black suit, with a suspicious bulge under
one arm, dark sunglasses, and some sort of device in his ear"
Player: "A blind, deaf man with the plague - he'll be no trouble!" -- Frank Carver
My favorite standard-deck card games are
hearts (we played
this a LOT in my family),
Social Class,
cribbage, spades,
and euchre, which I
learned from teammates when we hung out after curling games.
I particularly enjoy spades and euchre because of the thrill I get from working well with a
partner; it is SO sweet when I figure out and lead what my partner needs
to take the trick, or sluff the right card later, and vice versa.
Other card games: I like Quiddler, Set and Aquarius, which have good art and fast play in common. As for collectible card games, I like Illuminati, Babylon 5, and especially Magic (here are some Magic decks I've built), but I don't really keep up with any of the rule/card changes.
I was on my college chess team and have fond memories of partners-speed chess, but was really better at backgammon (came in second in a hometown tournament, rep'd my college in regionals). I used to carry around a copy of Bruce Becker's Backgammon for Blood to psych opponents, but it does have its flaws (the above link has reviews).
Currently, my favorite board games include RISK, Settlers of Catan, Wabbit Wampage, and Steve Jackson Games' Hacker. In fact, I've run games of Hacker at various cons I've attended (and got free games from SJG for demos at cons and game stores),
which inspired me to put together a Hacker demo kit.
I used to RPG but dropped out for years after a favorite character was drained by a giant tick. However, I got into a gaming group in Maryland a few years ago and started playing a bard for the first time ever, and have had enormous fun writing songs (saved in Bardic Filk). The closest I've come to LARPing is laser tag, though.