March 29 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

It feels like a Friday to us, and we can’t believe that bodes well for the rest of the week. In any case, we’re getting straight to the point and bringing you the top poker news stories of the day, so we can go veg out on the couch and grind online a little. What we won’t be partaking in is the PokerStars 60 billionth hand celebration – that already happened. We’ll tell you about that, how Mike Sowers double final tabled the Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday and more.

In Case You Missed It

The World Series of Poker Circuit is in Rincon for the West Regional Championship and the total field of 98 was whittled to 18 on Day 2. To find out who’s still in the running for the National Championship seat, check out the WSOP-C recap.

We figured it was about time to lay down the Twitter law. Here are our ten rules for poker players to follow when tweeting.

If you want to broaden your gaming industry knowledge, we’ve got just the scoop for you to read. Inside Gaming is back this week with news on the PokerListings and Cake alliance, fourth-quarter results for some Las Vegas properties, and more.

Gus Hansen is still doing his thing at the high-stakes online poker tables on Full Tilt Poker. He recently took on Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond and we’ve got a recap of some of the action in the Online Railbird Report.

Celebrating 60 Billion

PokerStars celebrated its 60 billionth hand Tuesday at 9:35 a.m. EDT (1335 GMT). The hand was dealt at the $5/$10 limit hold’em table called Isa II, where six players were seated. The players were guaranteed $500 and then any extra prize money would be based on the number of VIP Player Points they had picked up over the previous 50 hands at the table. The winner of the hand was guaranteed at least $60,000.

The players were told, “The winner of the hand will have their prize money doubled. On top of that, they will receive an extra $60,000. And you can’t win a hand by folding.”

It was “Pogo650″ who ended up winning the hand with on a board. When everything was tallied, Pogo650 added $102,090 to his bankroll. Four players at the table pocked $21,045, while the sixth added $11,040 to his bankroll.

“I’m possibly the biggest luckbox alive over the last week or so. Two losing sessions ended in milestone hands,” Pogo650 said.

Head on over to the PokerStars Blog for a replay of the hand.

Sowers’ Double Double

It’s Double Guarantees Week at Full Tilt Poker and there’s over $30 million in guaranteed prize pools up for grabs. On Monday, Mike Sowers took advantage of that and the fact that all guaranteed tournaments were converted to Multi-Entry tournaments.

Sowers finished in both first and ninth place in the $1K Monday. How’d he do that? Well, he bought in for the maximum six entries and he still had two of his entries left when the final table was reached, therefore merging his two stacks. For his smallest stack, Sowers received ninth-place money and kept his momentum going throughout the tournament to finish in first place, pocketing $490,295 — taking home over $500,000 total for the tournament.

Want to double final table an event of your own? Sign up for a Full Tilt Poker account, and to find out more on Sowers’ win, check out Poker-King.com.

Gromov Wins WPT Vienna

After four days of play, the World Poker Tour stop in Vienna has crowned a winner. The final table started Tuesday with Dmitry Gromov at the top of the chip counts and when all was said and done, he topped the pack, taking home €447,840 in first-place prize money. The final table was streamed live, complete with hole cards and commentary by Mike Sexton and Jesse May.

WPT Vienna Results

If you want to check out how the action went down, head on over to the PartyPoker Blog.

Live the Dream with UB

UB wants to get you a seat at the World Series of Poker. All you have to do is win your way to the Main Event freeroll by playing in a series of freerolls. One lucky player will win a $12,000 WSOP prize package.

“One of the most tried and true traditions in online poker is winning your seat to the WSOP Main Event on UB. We have so many ways to do so, even starting with freerolls that a player would be crazy not to get in there and snag their seat. We are so excited to fill the Rio this summer,” Team UB Pro Joe Sebok said.

All you have to do is make it through four rounds of play. Round 1 freerolls are already under way and run six times a day. The top 100 players from those will qualify for the Round 2 freeroll which takes place on Sundays. If you finish in the top 150 of that, you’ll be entered into the Round 3 monthly freeroll and the top 150 from that make their way to the WSOP Main Event freeroll where they’ll have a shot at the $12,000 prize package.

The only way to get your start, is by signing up for a UB account. Good luck!

Negreanu Talks SuperStar Showdown

Kristy Arnett caught up with Daniel Negreanu on Monday at the World Series of Poker Circuit West Regional Championship at Harrah’s Rincon. Negreanu discussed his match against Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown and whether there will be another rematch.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

If you have the skills, we have $55,000 in added prizes. The PokerNews Skills Challenge at Full Tilt Poker is a series of money added tournaments every Wednesday night, which culminates in a $20,000 freeroll.