I was at the Hilton in Las Vegas, seeing the new Star Trek show with Joanie, one of my craps playing buddies. The show was great and afterwards she asked me if I wanted to check out the action at the tables. I nodded and we headed into the main casino.

"They have full double odds here, you'll like it", she said.

We arrived at the craps area. "Doesn't that mean they just pay 2.5 odds on the 6 and 8?"

She squeezed into an obviously crowded table, dragging me with her. "No, actually full double odds pays 3X odds on the six and eight. Anyway, I have a hunch we should play here. "

Apparently the previous shooter had made his point and the table was still full of chips. Black chips. We both bought in for $300 each.

The shooter rolled a nine, and I was about to make a $25 come bet.

"Bet $30" Joanie said.

I added a red chip."Why?"

"You'll see." Joanie also made a $30 come bet.

The shooter rolled a six.

I was about to toss down $60 in odds and Joanie stopped me again."On a $30 flat bet you can add $100 in odds." She tossed down a black chip and I did the same. We also made another $30 come bet.

The shooter rolled a five and I looked at Joanie and asked "$60?"

"Nope, on the five and nine, you can add $80 in odds."

We both did so, but we didn't have much money left so we didn't make another bet.

A four. An eight. A six!

Joanie cheered! "See we get $120 for our $100 odds bet. If we had bet $60 odds on a $30 come bet on the four we also would get back $120. Want to guess what we'll get WHEN the shooter throws a five?"

I scratched my head. "Could it be $120?"

"Yup. Full double odds equalizes the paybacks, so that odds can easily be explained and paid on $30 flat bets. On a $30 flat bet, you can add $100 in odds to the 6 and 8, $80 to the five and nine, and $60 to the four and ten. All of these odds result in payoffs of $120."

We looked toward the shooter. He threw a five!

We were paid and Joanie counted her chips. "See if we had double odds on the 5 and 6, we would have gotten back $90 for the five, and $72 for the six, a total of $162 for the odds only. But with full double odds, we get $120 for the five, and $120 for the six, or $240!"

I put the chips in my pocket. "That's great, want to play some more?"

"No, I have a hunch we should quit now."

The shooter's new point was nine. The next roll was a seven. We went to dinner.

The moral of the story is that full double odds are much better than double odds.

And, always play your hunches!

You can get a FREE issue of The Crapshooter Newsletter just by sending two first class stamps to The Crapshooter, Dept.GMO17, PO Box 421440, San Diego CA 92142. You'll also receive a FREE catalog and a special FREE offer!