There are two types of green chip players: those who play for fun, and those who play for profit. Here is an easy way to tell the difference - those who play for profit don't last as green chip bettors.
By "green chip players", I mean players who bet units of roughly $25 chips, even though they may actually use $5 chips to make a $25 bet, or use $100 chips to make a $200 bet. The Kelly bankroll needed is only around $7K. You really just need $1K for a session, and the willingness to scrape up more if necessary.
What happens to green chip players who play for profit? They double the bankroll in 200-300 hours. Then they double it once more and become black chip players with $30K+ bankrolls. That's when casino countermeasures become a real problem.
How can you tell recreational players? They have been playing at the same level for a long time. They use complicated systems, multilevel with side counts. They like these counts in handheld games instead of more profitable shoe games. They justify costly behavior with bad math.
For example, a player wrote (on another board) his favorite blackjack moment was standing (instead of splitting) on 9-9 vs. 4 to get an extra round. Well, the EV for splitting is 32%, and EV for standing is 17% (http://wizardofodds.com/blackjack/appendix5.html). He paid a 15% penalty on one hand to play another round with a 2.5% edge. Ouch! I guess he didn't really want profit, he just wanted to feel like he was playing with an edge.
Others justify costly behavior by "cover" from "heat". Some recommend declining free room comps to stay anonymous. They travel far to play four hours per day making optimistically $50 per hour. Realistically they won't cover expenses and earn minimum wage.
That's okay because most casino customers lose money. My main criticism is when recreational counters justify their behavior in terms of profit. The advice of long-term green chip players is for hobbyists who want to break even, not players who want to make money.
