Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Looking at the House Edge


For three decades, John F. Abate has operated companies which provide printed guides to gambling topics, including Marketforce and Wintrack. One element of gambling that experts like John F. Abate look at when assessing a game is the house edge.

A gambling game's house edge represents the extent to which a casino or similar establishment makes money on every bet. While individual bets can go well or poorly, the house can be reasonably confident that over the course of thousands of bets, its overall take will be dictated by the game's house edge. Typical calculations of a house edge assume the player is using the optimal strategy for the game in question.

A game with a negligible house edge, such as the 0.5 percent edge of blackjack, is relatively safe for a gambler. The odds of the player winning are almost matched with those of the house winning, so players who play briefly and have a decent run of luck are likely to come out ahead. A game with a larger house edge, such as roulette, keno, or slots, is a riskier proposition for a gambler, especially during long sets. Games which require more thought, effort, or experience typically have a lower house edge.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Early History of the Electric Guitar


John F. Abate has helped gamblers optimize their play for decades, printing guides for activities like horse racing and casino games through companies such as Success Publishers and Wintrack. When not busy with these businesses, John F. Abate likes to play the guitar.

The electric guitar plays a role in many genres of music, especially in America, and dates back to the period leading up to World War II. The 1920s popularized public dance, which drove the need for louder instruments, and by the end of the 1930s electronic amplification had won out as the most effective method of creating volume. Country and jazz guitarists began to adopt it, experimenting with the many ways amplification affected the sound of a guitar.

It wasn't until its adoption for rock and roll, however, that the guitar became a cultural icon. The distinct body shapes of solid-body guitars by manufacturers such as Fender and Gibson joined leather jackets, greased hair, and motorcycles as symbols of the rebellious rock-and-roller. As rock established itself as a genre with staying power, the electric guitar became a staple of American music overall, with sounds branching out from crisp and clean to purposefully distorted and heavy on feedback, extending to the diverse range of today's guitar sounds.