Feb 19, 2006 - 02:05:59 CST
Like the outfitters that sometimes made the best money selling mules and shovels to gold-rush prospectors, Eric Nordstrom is betting that he can make a profit from poker tables, rather than the game.A lifelong carpenter, Nordstrom began making poker tables two years ago when someone asked if he could make something special to play a friendly game on.
Through word-of-mouth advertising, he has turned poker tables and other gaming supplies into a full-time business, in his home state (he has lived in North Dakota since 1989), as well as South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana.
"I've made well over 200 tables in the last two years," Nordstrom says. "That's a conservative estimate."
Nordstrom said the business really took off after he introduced his products to Western Distributing, a licensed gaming distributor in North Dakota.
"All the charities that do gaming have to get tables and other products from a licensed gaming distributor," he said. "The distributors either sell or rent the tables to about 300 different charities in the state."
He said Lein Games, in Fargo, also orders tables, and retailers in Minneapolis, for example, order his tables "20 or 30 at a time."
"It hasn't peaked yet," Nordstrom said. "I get busier every month. I don't know when it will level off."
Probably not anytime soon, since he has now set up a Web site (nordyspoker.com) and will have a business listing in the next phonebook.
"I'm ready to take it to the next level," he said.
Nordy's Custom Poker Tables are available in four basic styles, ranging from $389 to $1,200. Custom designs also are available.
Aside from standard poker tables, Nordy's also makes a wide variety of blackjack tables and provides KEM cards, specialty dealer buttons and field cloths.
When not turning the tables into sales, you might find Nordstrom sitting down for a friendly game at one of his own creations.
"I like to play quite a bit myself," he says.
You can contact Nordy's Custom Poker Tables at the Web site noted above, or at 701-391-0513.
To San Pedro
Hats off to Mansureh Iravani, DMD, MD, Oral Surgery Center, for the volunteer services she recently performed in Honduras.
At her own expense, Iravani traveled to San Pedro to provide free services to residents there who would otherwise suffer indefinitely from untreated conditions.
Although her recent work was performed in a hospital setting, Iravani is no stranger to rough conditions. During her first two-week trip to Honduras in 2000, she took a four-hour bus ride, including two hours on dirt roads, and set up a clinic with her own equipment in a remote village.
Iravani slept on a narrow cot, showered with river water, and extracted teeth from people who had walked hours through the jungle to reach the only dental care they had ever received.
Iravani donates her time and resources to such projects because she finds the experiences rewarding, says Lindsay Bartch, business administrator for the Oral Surgery Center in Bismarck. "She doesn't really want any recognition for these activities, but I think people should know the extent of her generosity and commitment," he said.
A board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Iravani is one of the few dental providers who accept Medicaid patients in the Bismarck area, Bartch said.
(Reach Nathan Denton at 250-8261 or nathan.denton@;bismarcktribune.com.)
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