New in Our Poker Room, TV Recording This Week, Concert This Thursday, Much More

New Happenings in Our Poker Room: There's lots new in our spacious 4-table Poker Room featuring five TVs for sports viewing, height-adjustable chairs, complimentary beverages including self-serve draft beer and a variety of tournaments, games and promotions. The room opens Monday thru Saturday at noon and Sundays at 9 a.m. and we have a pretty friendly and diverse following who are always welcoming to everyone - whether you're a "I know how to play this game from watching WSOP on TV" type or a timid yet willing beginner!  Poker Tournaments include a noon Shootout Hold'em Tournament every Monday thru Saturday, a  Tuesday Night Bounty Tournament (new), Texas Hold'em Tournaments Tuesdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at Noon (new), Friday Night Drawings (new) thru August 1, Double Points every Tuesday and Friday (new),  a Wheel Spin Promo with every four-of-a-kind in a Hold'em game, Nine Progressive Jackpots, a British Open Poker Room Putting Challenge July 17 – 20 and much more. Also new: Free Poker Lessons every Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. so that the timid yet willing beginners can become . . .  well, what you become is up to you but we can easily help you understand what's happening on those WSOP TV shows (it's really not that complicated)! Want more CVI Poker Room info? Call the Poker Room directly at 775-783-7763.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of those "classic" movies and certainly one of the most memorable scenes featured Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and Etta Place (Katharine Ross) enjoying a bicycle ride with an apple, playful stunt riding, a giddy young lady, a curious bull and - well check out the video above! The song was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach and sung by B.J. Thomas who will perform that tune and his many other hits at his concert in TJ's Corral this Thursday. Tickets are still available for the B. J. Thomas Concert and they start at a most-reasonable $22!

Congratulations to Karen Firman of Anaheim, Ca who won the B.J. Thomas Giveaway promotion on Matt McKay's The Elevated Tee golf radio show which airs on Sunday mornings on KSPI 920AM  in Palm Springs. Matt visits our area regularly and has run various promotions featuring the Carson Valley Inn. Karen is here now enjoying 2 nights at the CVI,  2 tickets to the B.J. Thomas Concert, Golf for 2 at Genoa Lakes and Foot Golf at Carson Valley Golf Course.

More  Concert News:

• Tickets are selling faster than we expected for both the Chris Young Concert on Saturday, August 2 and the Charlie Daniels Band Concert on Friday, August 29 - Thank You!! Both concerts are trending toward certain sellouts and thus this gentle nudge (feel our elbow just lightly poke your ribs?) to get your tickets soon.
• The Austinpalooza to benefit Austin’s House on Saturday, August 16 features Lee Rocker, formerly of The Stray Cats, as we mentioned last week. Preceding Lee on stage in this all-day music fest are local area bands The Engineered Disaster, Seymour's Trick Bag, Bootleggers, Metal Echo and Lavish Green. All-Day tickets with in-and-out access are $25 for adults and $15 for children age 12 and under . . . and all proceeds from ticket sales go directly to Austin’s House. 

As Always, Interesting and/or Helpful Tidbits and News:

• Mike's Horses: Turned out that Doctor Dempsey didn't run as planned at Belmont last weekend. However, Mike's horse Brannaman won the 6th race at Los Alamitos Race Course last Friday in the opening weekend of the Orange County track’s debut Thoroughbred racing season. 
• This Week's Game-On Fridays special in CV Steak is a repeat of the popular Braised Wild Boar Shanks: two boar shanks braised and slow cooked with a Bourbon boar sauce and served with tableside-tossed salad, vegetable and your choice of potato - au gratin, baked, or a one-pound, twice-baked potato . . . all for $26,00!
• Is This Name Still Politically Correct? The Death Ride - Tour of the California Alps is this Saturday in nearby Markleeville and we're expecting the usual influx of some serious and some recreational  bicycle rider/athletes. There are a couple of temporary mountain road closures (no, not highways 88 or 395) on Saturday and there will be thousands of riders across the border in California over various passes. Your caution and diligence while driving will certainly be appreciated.
• Were you at the Carson Valley Inn on August 10, 1984? If so, get in touch with us and tell us your story!

Watch Us Make Not-Quite-Live TV This Thursday: If you live in northern Nevada - or visit regularly and have the TV on - you've certainly watched or flipped through The Dining Show, produced and hosted by Sam Shad.  We've been featured on this show a few times and we know you watch because many people have mentioned to Joey Whitacre that you saw him on TV. As with all video and written promo - and just about anything these days - it seems that something is out of date before the ink is even dry (ink on a video? Well, you get the point).  That's definitely the case for us on The Dining Show so Sam Shad and his new host Randi Thompson will be here this Thursday to record an updated show with Joey. You'll see the lights, camera, food and action in CV Steak and, last we heard, also out at TJ's Corral for whatever antics the feisty trio manages to improvise. The food is seldom the cause of a re-take, but sometimes the camera catches Joey doing a side-glance at his cell phone and the scene has to start over. 

Free Entertainment in the Cabaret Lounge: Jonathan "JB" Barton performs tonight, Midnight Express appears Thursday through Saturday and Steve Lord takes the stage Sunday through next Wednesday.  We've had some people ask us to include a little more about the weekend bands, so here's the scoop on Midnight Express: The group plays a variety of classic rock and country with a generous blending of three and four part harmonies. Bass player and vocalist Garry Pranin formed the group and he is accompanied by Phil Prunier (guitar, mandolin and harmonica) who is a previous member of Steele Breeze, John Palmore (keyboards) who formerly played with (and was also music director for) The Drifters and Dusty Slabaugh (drums) who does and excellent Johnny Cash. We try to keep at least a month ahead at this link on our web site.

Mary, Dave, Cara & Butch

Blackjack Tournament Winners: Our July Blackjack Tournament was last night and the prize fund of all entry fees and re-buys came to $1,125.00 which, as always, was paid entirely to the last three standing. David Myers captured the first place prize of $565, the second place share of $340 was won by Butch Moyle and the remaining $220 went to Mary Woods  for third (OK, admit it if you went back to see if these three added up!). Our next Blackjack Tournament is Tuesday evening, August 12.

On the Ropes at Heavenly: As most of our skiing guests know, the Carson Valley Inn partners with Heavenly Tahoe every winter to offer some great ski packages. This year Heavenly made major investments in  ramping up the summer activities "on the mountain" and included in the new offerings are the ropes courses highlighted in this video.

Get In Touch With Us: 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!