I'd like to suggest that for a recreational counter, like myself, looking at money management in a somewhat non-conventional fashion may be useful. Traditionally, a counter might choose a bankroll based on how much he could lose without feeling devastated. Then, based on this bankroll and a chosen risk of ruin, he can calculate a bet spread and see what his long-term EV would be. I think there is great utility in looking at things in exactly the opposite direction as my example below demonstrates.

As a recreational green-chip counter with one year of counting under my belt, I'm trying to determine if this counting thing is worth it for me to pursue. I've only made about $1,300 after 100 hours in my first year which I don't consider worth it ($13/hr). Should I continue? Here's my analysis. For me, I could see myself counting for another 15 years and I'd like to average at least $100 per hour. I would consider anything under $50/hr as a bust and anything over $100/hr as gravy. I then looked at CVCX for the game I play to determine what bankroll I would need to accomplish this goal. It turns out that if I play two hands and spread from $30 to $360 (Wonging out at -2), I can expect an hourly win rate of $129/hr. I chose a number above $100 because I think it will be difficult/impossible to achieve the same results as the sim in real life, mostly due to cover play. If I play around with bankroll, I find that a 40K bankroll gives me a 3.5% ROR. Furthermore, if I look at my chances to accomplish my long-term goals, I find that after 15 years (1500 hours) I have a 95.89% chance of being up 75K ($50/hr) and a 73.71% chance of being up $150K ($100/hr). Even if these numbers are overly optimistic (which I'm sure they are), they give me confidence that I can achieve my goals. Assumptions: 100 hands/hr, 6D H17 DAS LS, 3players, 78% pen HiLo with 50 indices WI @ shuffle, WO at -2.

So now the question is, am I willing to double my bankroll commitment to make this venture worthwhile in the long run (in year 1, I was only willing to commit 20K to my BR)? Also, can I play 100 hours per year at my two local stores at these levels without getting backed off?