Liquor in the front Poker in the back

Played them all growing up:
Canasta, rummy, poker, cribbage... my grandfather taught me cribbage and the stakes were a penny a point... he didn't want to teach me it if I wasn't going to try to learn!

Then learned Euchre when I moved to the Midwest.

Now, if it's a card game in the casino, I'll probably try/play it. EXCEPT for Casino War!

 

I learned to play gin rummy from my grandmother and uncle.

 

I've played blackjack in informal settings (like game nights) and exited with more chips than I started. I'd shit my pants if I ever sat down at a table, though, even a $5 one. I guess you have to fake it 'til you make it.

 

When I first started to play blackjack in a casino, the thing that always struck me was how mentally exhausted I was after an hour or so. I don't know if it was the stress of having actual money on the line, or trying to make decisions every 30-60 seconds, or keeping up with all of the cards or what, but it was to the point I had headaches. That eased eventually, though. Now, even though it's been a long time since I played regularly, it's a lot more muscle memory and reflex.

 

Both sets of families introduced me to cards at a very young age: Crazy Eights, Kings in the Corner, Old Maid.

The Canadians loved Double Pinochle. My Uncle Don was a fanatic about cribbage and would stay up all night playing, if Aunt Dorothy would let him.

Boy Scouts taught me the strategy and tactics of Hearts and Spades. Gin, Uno and Phase 10 came later.

I'm going to guess I'm the board's foremost authority on Prison Spades, which is not really something to be proud of. But I'm willing to bet @Batman and I would make a formidable Spades team, while @Slacker and I would be diabolical in Hearts.

 

Can't believe I forgot about Crazy Eights and Uno!

 

Slap Jack was especially fun with a mean sister! Old Maid was fun too.

Maybe tech has pushed us farther away rather than bringing us closer….

 

We used to play Crazy Eights all the time when I was a kid, but I was a little rusty on the rules when I tried to introduce my wife to it about 30 years later. It was a lot of remembering as I go, which made it seem like I was making up the rules as we went along, and led to some understandable frustration. Especially since most of the rules seemed to be favoring me.
At some point she asked, "Wait, isn't this like Uno?"
I tried to come up with some differences but couldn't, so it evolved into a discussion of this is how you play Uno when you're too cheap to buy an actual Uno deck. And then that led to Crazy Eights forever earning the nickname of "Ghetto Uno" in our house.

 

That's awesome. I had a very young grandma (45 when I was born) and she was a regular league bowler, so I loved when she took us to the lanes during summer vacation. (She also let me drive go-karts when I was probably no more than 9, and I could barely reach the pedals and steer.)