RoR simple question

[Brom]

I have a simple (I think) definition problem for RoR, or risk of ruin, that I was hoping someone could give me a hand with.

I calculated my risk of ruin given; bankroll, standard deviation, and win rate, with the formula given at this site:
http://www.thepokerforum.com/angel1.htm

Now I'm not too concerned with the accuracy of the given formula (as long as it is reasonably close it's good enough for me), but I would like some help interpreting the result. I figured that my RoR was about 3%. Now what does that mean exactly? Does it mean that there's a 1 in 33 chance that if I play under those same conditions (BR, WR, SD) that I will go broke? If that's the case then how long would it take for me to lose that much money? I know that there's no way that I would ever sit long enough to lose that much money and I'd definetly stop before it got crucial. Does it mean that if I take that bankroll out into the world 100 times, (i.e. try to build a career out of it) I'd end up losing it about 3 times in those 100, assuming same conditions?

[Brom]

Bump. Is it not a simple question, or does no one know the answer, or what?

[jason1990]

Your risk of ruin is the limit as N goes to infinity of the probability that you will go broke within the first N hands that you play. Since this probability is increasing with N, the probability that you will go broke in N hands is always less than your risk of ruin, no matter what N is.

So if your risk of ruin is 3%, then the probability you will go broke in the first 10,000 hands is less than 3%. The probability you will go broke in the first million hands is less than 3%. The probability you will go broke in the first billion hands is less than 3%. The more hands you play, the closer this probability will get to 3%.

Another way to think about it is this: Out of every 100 people whose risk of ruin if 3%, 97 of them could play forever and never go broke.

[Brom]

That's an extremely helpful response, thank you. It has helped me clear up the misconceptions I had.