This is how I look at it - The last paragraph of yours is a no brainer, IMO, but I meant the earlier part.
I think the key is that each person have a general idea of what their bankroll is - and this doesn't necessarily mean "how much can you afford to lose?" Sure, you may be able to afford to lose $3000, as in your example, but how are you going to feel if that happens? If the answer is "really, really shitty," then don't give yourself a $3000 bankroll. Just because you can afford to lose it doesn't mean you should. If you are more comfortable with $500, or $50, or whatever, that should be what you "work backwards" from.
I do understand what Boobie is saying though. At some point in this backwards bankroll figuring out logic, you reach numbers that are ridiculously small. If you are playing $.01/.02 and grinding out a massive 5 BBs per hour, that's still only 10 cents per hour!!! Go work at Wal-Mart and give yourself a 50 fold raise! This only applies if you are indeed trying to "make money" by playing poker... If you are playing for fun or playing to try to improve and move up slowly, or if not having to reload is very important to you, then by all means, stick to playing withing your bankroll at the $.01/$.02 game.
As for me, I don't even know what my bankroll is. Really. I could come up with a number that I'm up lifetime and I could come up with a number of how much I can afford to lose, but I'm not comfortable using EITHER of those numbers as my bankroll (they are both too high). I could also come up with a number for how much money I have online in various poker sites right now, but that's not a good number for me either (this number is too low). My bankroll is the amount that I am comfortable gambling with, and it's somewhere in between the numbers I just mentioned... It's more than I have online right now, but it's less than EVERYTHING I can afford to lose.
It really is a personal decision, but what it comes down to is this: If you don't want to bust, stick to strict bankroll management guidelines. If you can easily reload or just don't care, then by all means, move on up.
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