“It has always been a dream of mine to make my mark in the poker world.”

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Nick Bordeau is a young entrepreneur currently in operation of Outplay Poker. He has been constantly improving his knowledge base to include search engine optimization and e-commerce development. Nick also brings to the table a strong background the poker industry. He actively participates at the tables and is very familiar with how the industry operates.

Outplay Poker, his start-up is a growing venture in the gaming accessories niche. Formed in early 2010 it has become one of the most trusted stores for poker accessories on the net. Outplay Poker prides itself on the close relationships that it attempts to form with every customer.

MO: How did you start Outplay Poker with just $250 of capital investment?

Nick: That’s simple, a lot of dedication. When you start with a small shoe-string budget like I did you find yourself doing most of the work that larger companies pay people to do. Time management becomes one of your best friends. Soon just like me, you will realize that there are simply just not enough hours in the day.

My best advice is to never give up though! My first two attempts at starting online businesses were complete failures. In fact I think my very first online website was from a get rich quick television commercial that I saw. However with each failure I gained a lot of experience that has helped me find success with Outplay Poker. I would defiantly not be where I am today if I decided to give up after my first go around.

MO: What inspired you to focus on the gaming accessories niche?

Nick: When I was attending The Rochester Institute of Technology my friends and I played poker on a regular basis. I decided that since we played so much that we needed a quality poker chips set and when I went to buy one online I noticed that there was no a lot of competition in the niche. So I started digging in to see if building a store would work.

Thankfully because of my experience, I was well versed to compete on a level with some of the larger competitors. On top of that I took full advantage of open source software to drastically cut my expenses to next to nothing. So really I owe my success with Outplay Poker to the skills I learned from my previous ventures.

MO: What influenced the recent redesign of your website?

Nick: Well anyone that knows me, knows I am a perfectionist. I pride myself and my business on having the most advanced e-commerce interface to work with. I stay on top of the latest web and search engine developments so I never miss a beat.

We were planning on upgrading anyways, so I decided to include a design makeover as part of our upgrade. After looking at our old design I just could not help myself from thinking that there was no way it would be able to work with the updates we were rolling out. Now we have implemented several key areas such as a full content management system, that I feel are going to give us a huge advantage over our competitors. I have already received several complements about our website’s ease of use and just cannot wait to get it to 100%.

MO: Have you always had an entrepreneurial spirit? Who or what have served as inspirations or influences during your career so far?

Nick: I wouldn’t say I have always had the spirit, but I have always had a canny ability to live outside the norm. When my friends in high school were studying to get into a good college, I was designing my first venture and I believe teaching myself what schooling could not. I really think this lifestyle has put me past all the people that said I would never make it and lead me to be what I am today.

However I do owe credit to my technology teacher Greg Roberts. He really inspired me to forget about what other students thought and stand out from the crowd. He coached me on how to apply myself both in and out of the classroom. By the end of senior year I was finishing my coursework early so that I could chat with him about being a young entrepreneur.

Alongside of Mr. Roberts my grandparents were another big inspiration. They always wanted me to do good in school, in order to get a great job later on in life. I think another big part of my motivation with e-commerce was simply trying to prove them wrong.

MO: What’s been your most popular product so far?

Nick: Surprisingly, we just started stocking the Milano Poker Chips from Claysmith Gaming and we just cannot keep them in stock! I have people that want to buy them even when they are not on our shelves. I cannot even count how many times I will get a call, tell a customer that the chips are out of stock and then have them tell me they want to pay now to make sure they get some. It is really exciting when you get products like this.

MO: What can we next expect from Outplay Poker? What are the most exciting things on the horizon for you and your company?

Nick: Right now we are focusing on branding ourselves as the go to place for gaming accessories. We are really beefing up our marketing efforts and I hope we see some big returns. In 2012 my goal is to be able to compete head to head with our largest competitor.

However I really want to grow Outplay Poker so that I can use our profits to give back to the poker community. I really want to create something that has never been seen before that will flip the poker world on its head. It has always been a dream of mine to make my mark in the poker world and I think it all starts with the expansion of Outplay Poker.