Merle Haggard Selling Fast, Free Chevy Sonic Saturday, Dubai World Cup, More

Free Car Saturday Night! We've been promoting it all month and now the time has come: this Saturday night we are giving away a free Chevy Sonic or a cash option in our grand prize drawings which will be held at 6 and 8 p.m. in the casino. Don't have a Golden Ticket yet for the free car drawing? Stop by this Friday for drawings at 5, 7 and 9 p.m. for more chances to win! And if you happen to be going to Bodines casino this coming weekend, don't fret – we're giving away a Chevy Sonic up there also! Special thanks to our most cooperative friends at Michael Hohl Motor Company who helped with this promotion. 

Silver Wings – One of Merle's Classics!

Tickets are selling quite briskly for the Merle Haggard Concert on Friday night, May 1. Might want to make sure you get yours before too long 'cause this one is trending towards an advance sell-out! Tickets for the Gary Allan Concert on June 4 will go on sale sometime in early to mid-April.

Sharkey's Update of Sorts: We had a great walk-through with the architect on Tuesday of this week. Some of the visions he's been explaining to us are now starting to show themselves and we're getting pretty excited about the look, feel and ambiance associated with the rebirth of Sharkey's. We'd like to share more, but things are happening so fast and furious that our visit was cut a bit short with a half kidding, half serious comment from the general contractor as he walked by us, "Grab a hammer or a paintbrush or move along!!"

Job Opportunities This Friday: Our HR folks will be at the Spring Carson Valley Career Job Opportunity Fair this Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the CVIC Hall in Minden. We're still looking for food servers for the soon-to-open Sharkey's and we have about a dozen positions open here at the Carson Valley Inn. Stop by and look us up!

Forty to Qualify for Free $2000 Poker Tournament: Players in our poker room have been moving up and down rungs on our poker ladder as we get closer to the March 31 cutoff when we determine the top 40 players to participate in the free poker tournament on April 11 with $2000 in cash prizes. The points you earn in the poker room help you climb up the ladder. And, with some of our poker room promotions providing wheel spins which can give you extra points, you never know who's going to suddenly move up on the ladder, move on to the ladder, or drop to a rung below the cutoff. The standings are posted and last we checked at least 15 people sitting below the 40 cutoff could easily move into a qualifying spot with a little more play time or one spin of the prize wheel. Come on in and check it out! (More Poker info for the ladies below)

California Chrome and Secret Circle in Dubai: This Saturday the horse racing world turns its attention 8000 miles from the Carson Valley when the world’s richest day of racing unfolds at Meydan Racecourse and the Dubai Racing Club.  Richest day? Try this: Nine races with total prize money of just short of $30 million! Mike Pegram's Secret Circle is scheduled to run in the $2 Million Dubai Golden Shaheen and Steve Coburn's 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome is slated to go in the feature event, the $10 Million Dubai World Cup.  Interested? Read on:

• We will be showing the races on the televisions in our cabaret bar.
• You can bet the two races with local connections at the Race and Sports Book at the CVI.
• The first race starts at 5 a.m. Saturday. The Golden Shaheen is not until the 6th race and the Dubai World Cup will not start until 8:00 a.m. or after, best we can figure. Anyway, we'll be open before the Golden Shaheen starts.
• For more about the richest day in racing click here.

Imagine this Phone Conversation: Think the Dubai World Cup races are an instant path to riches for winning horses from the USA? That big prize money for each race is distributed to the various finishers, it isn't winner take all. The trainers, managers, jockeys and handlers all get a piece of the winnings. The owners need to get to Dubai and back (Southwest doesn't fly there for $199 each way!), they'll need a place to stay (sure makes the CVI look like a bargain) and dining out in Dubai is . . . well, you would long for the prices in Katie's or CV Steak. Then there's this call:

• Other End: Good Morning, Federal Express, may I help you?
• You: Yes, I'd like to ship my prized thoroughbred from southern California to Dubai and back, first class of course, and can you arrange boarding for the week he is there?
• Other End: Sure, (pause) . . . that total will be $$$$ - no make that $$$$$ - including pickup and delivery and all fees.
• You: Gulp!

The August Aviation Roundup is More Than Airplanes: Don't you think this little guy had his day made when he met one of the Thunderbird pilots at the Minden-Tahoe Airport earlier this week! A memory for a lifetime. Their advance visit to Carson Valley on Monday was most productive and you can catch more in this story posted by Joey Crandall of carsonvalleytimes.com and this story posted by Shane Murphy of The Record Courier. Be sure to mark August 22 & 23 on your calendars for the 2015 Aviation Roundup!

Ladies Poker Tournament Sunday: Our monthly ladies poker tournament is this Sunday, March 29 so that we don't conflict with Easter next week. The fun starts at 3 p.m. when Sharon gives free poker lessons for all the ladies. If you've played just a little, or are somewhat nervous about participating in a tournament, stop by starting at 3 and Sharon will have you tuned up and ready to go by the time the tournament starts. Under the direction of Derek Johnson, the Ladies-Only No-limit Texas Hold'em Bounty Tourney starts at 4 p.m. with the usual friendly assistance by Dean and Roberta. We hope you can join us!

As Always, Interesting, Helpful and Even Useful Tidbits and News

• Wednesday Ladies' Night 5:30 to 8:30 PM: The first 150 ladies to sign up tonight receive the last in a series of four March Bakeware products. Also enjoy hot seat drawings for Ghirardelli Chocolate Baskets, ladies-only drink specials, a ladies-only slot tournament and more.
• Grilled Duck Breast Friday in CV Steak:  Our Friday Game Special this week is Grilled Duck Breast, a Maple Leaf Farms 9 oz. duck breast marinated with fresh herbs, grilled to medium rare-medium doneness with natural duck jus, served with tableside-tossed salad, vegetable and your choice of potato - au gratin, baked, or a one-pound, twice-baked potato . . . all for $28.00.
• Free Entertainment in the Cabaret Lounge: Johnny Smokes is here tonight, Decades entertains Thursday & Friday, Stew Stewart prowls the Cabaret Lounge on Saturday night and George Pickard takes the stage Sunday through Wednesday nights.
• We Thought You Should Know: Continuing our series of bringing you interesting and unusual information: tomorrow is Make up Your Own Holiday Day and Friday is Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day (we think our entertainment manager Stew Stewart celebrates this every day -  give him a subject and he'll make up a song title on the  spot!). Have an interesting holiday you'd like to see? How about a quirky country song title? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

Comments? Have questions or comments about the CVI? Use the comments section below, shoot us an email or just pick up the phone and call us @ 775-782-9711. Hit "0" when the automated voice comes on and you'll go right to the hotel operator who can get you to the correct person or department.  We have a lot more coming up at the Carson Valley Inn so check our Blog posting every Wednesday morning!