Yup, they are friends so he doesnt want to play him.
50.000 hands at those stakes is huge, it wont surprise me if someone will be forced to buy out because he loses too much money. I found an interesting article about the swings at the high stakes game:
High Stakes Poker Results, Variance and Swings, Superuser? « PROP [blog] | Poker Clothing | A Degenerate Lifestyle Brand
An interview where he talks about the bet can be found here:
Poker Videos - Player Interviews and Poker Strategy - Online Poker - CardPlayer.com