I am in a weird spot to respond to this thread -- for several reasons
Although I think bankroll management is extremely important, I have done everything I've done in poker, basically ignoring most of the general advice.
A big issue is that I never had (and still don't have) an official "bankroll". As in if you asked me how much money I had set aside to play poker, I couldn't answer you... I could tell you how much money I had at the time. I never seperated the two.
Im also in a unique situation currently, where I have little bills (since I've moved back in with my parents after graduating college and thus avoid rent and utility bills) that only total $300-$350 a month. So technically I could go complete broke (not poker money, I mean everything) just pick up a shift here and there and make my money I need in 2-3 days if need be.... sure it'd be a bitch getting back some $$ to have for poker but whatever.
In addition, (more so live than online.... )I chose my game based on it's potential (earnings) and skill level.
The Club I go to frequently has a 1/2 NL and a 5/5 NL as their hold'em games
I played 1/2 for a while, then moved up to 5/5, had some good sessions, realized I was good enough to beat the game and the earning potential was immensely higher than 1/2...I became comfortable with the raise amounts flop bets etc and that was that. The max buy in is 1K, although most players buy in for 500-800 unless there is an unusual amount of $$ on the table...so the stacks are generally in that area. Sticking to 20x max buy in rules, I should have 20k to play right in this game (which I certainly do not) Adjusting the buy in to a more realistic 700, that still says 14k, which is also not in my roll.
To go back down to 1/2 would be crazy for me though. The play is so different (its two different games when a raise is 10 bucks vs 35 bucks), moves work differently, bluffs arent as intimidating, etc. Its a different game which needs readjustment to...I'd feel weird going back to it, even if I took a hit.
Sure it's not optimum for my bankroll to think like this -- but Im not playing with 3 or 4 buyins, where it's to the point where if I lose two in a row im through...Im dealing with variance ok (and for some reason the bad beats live happen 50 times less often than online)
Of course keep in mind my "roll" goes up and down from things beside poker wins and loses...when I work, that gets added, when I go out, that gets subtracted, when I pay bills, that gets subtracted...considering I don't have an official bankroll... just the amount I have at the time, and technically if I did lose all of it, while it'd suck, It wouldn't kill me...I could get my bills taken care of in 2-3 days, then start makin some money and rebuilding.
I do track all my poker sessions (live and online) so I know exactly how Im doing for the year, and at what stakes etc.
When I first started online poker, I had some extra money and threw $200 in pokerstars. I sat down at the .50/1.00 tables, simply because I couldnt see myself playing for much less, it'd be kind of pointless to me. I had maybe 1k at this point, but if I lost 200 bucks, it didn't matter. I did fairly well and once my stars account got to 800 I switched to the 1/2 tables and played there for a while with mixed success...I went on a tear about april/may of last year (online) moved up to 2/4 and 3/6 (never got beyond that though) and won 10k in 2.5 months. I made frequent withdrawals from my pokerstars account and gave myself a set number to cash out down to. (that number would go up as my winnings did and the stakes did) eventually it was at $2100, and in a two day session I dropped that $2100. I was still up roughly 10k overall in my stars adventure. I took a few weeks off from online play before redepositing. I had mixed success, played some partypoker, a little full tilt, and mostly stars.
Now 75% of my play is live, since I have a cardroom (several actually, though not exactly legit) close to where I live and my online bankroll is smaller.
Do I reccomend people take my route? Absolutely not
But I think people need to redefine their defination of bankroll
IMO, NO poker player should be bankrolled for .01/.02 NL.
None. Simply because I refuse to believe that anyone has a bankroll of only $40. If losing $40 (keeping in mind thatd require losing your whole bankroll and doing so in $2 increments) would kill you, I don't think you have the spare money to be playing poker, and you should not be risking any money at all. Choose another hobby like chess or something else that doesn't involve money.
I can't imagine grinding it out at the tables for an hour, just like TP said to make .10 makes sense to anyone...if its not about the $ then play for play money. It's simply a waste of time. Minimum wage is 6 bucks an hour now. If you can't average that assuming you play well, I mean whats the point.
I don't mean to sound too hard or harsh to anyone and if im coming across that way sorry...
Ok rambling done