So it appears there was, in fact, some kind of “superuser” account used at UltimateBet. That, surprisingly, is not the worst news.

Nat goes on to say:

“Make no mistake about it -- there was blatant cheating on both AP and UB in 2007 and if the players never spoke up, nothing would have ever gotten refunded or fixed. … If I were you, I probably wouldn't play at UB or AP right now either.”

Nat does end his post by saying that, after talking with people at both AP and UB, he is very confident that the mess will eventually be cleaned up, and that, “Although it may be too much to ask, give them [AP and UB] some more time to get everything in order -- imo, there's a good but unfortunate reason for why they've taken so long.”

WHEW! I’m glad I don’t play on either of those sites! I stick to Full Tilt Poker, where there’s no BS! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go tell my landlord I’ll be able to pay my rent as soon as I get my April 13th cash-out from FT.

Remember back in the day when poker players would sit down in full ring games or in nine-handed multi-table tournaments and the competition in these activities was enough to placate the players and media alike? Those were the good ole days … you know, back in 2006.

Nowadays it seems like you can’t go a week without hearing about some crazy heads-up match/prop bet/combination of the two … these kids today with the hair and the rap music. (FYI, there are rumors of a special “triathlon” prop bet between Eskimo Clark and Chad Batista, consisting of: Badugi, skee-ball, and R.C Pro-Am for NES – surprisingly, Eskimo is going off at 2:1).

In this week’s installment of “Drummed-Up-Grudge-Match,” we have one newcomer and one old hand. Daniel Negreanu and Brian Hastings (Cardrunners instructor, plays as “$tinger 88” online) are planning to play two heads-up matches at $100k a pop – one in NLHE ($100/200 blinds) and one in HORSE ($500/1000 limits). Daniel announced the challenge on his blog, Hastings accepted, and the match is set to take place on PokerStars (as Daniel’s contract precludes him from playing anywhere else).

With all this side action going on, one has to wonder when Daniel will find time to play in any actual WSOP events. Along with the Hastings challenge, “Kid Poker” already has the $500k golf/Stud 8 bet with Patrik Antonius planned for the summer, and seldom a day goes by during the WSOP when these guys aren’t betting upwards of $300-400 million a hole on golf (ok, probably a little less than that).

Maybe Daniel’s got some master plan here. Think about it, $200,000 from Hastings, plus $500,000 from Patrik, plus 5% of whichever final table guy he coaches… if this plan pans out he could easily skip The Series and still make more than most of the bracelet winners.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Shronk is accepting all comers for heads-up Tecmo Super Bowl matches (any amount up to $10,000) at the PokerRoad WSOP booth. The only stipulation: If he loses, he does not have to pay the winner any money.