Some say the secret to happiness is to ‘dance like no one’s watching,’ but when you’re a high-profile ambassador for an online poker site — playing live in front of cameras — it might be wise to remember people are, in fact, watching.
So it is that Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero, current number one on Argentina’s all-time money list and a sponsored pro for ACR Poker, has danced himself center stage into another controversial situation.
Playing the first day of the US Poker Open $25K event on Wednesday — filmed for PokerGO — Barbero found himself in conversation with tablemate Isaac Haxton, a fellow high-stakes regular. Barbero brought up the recent controversy, in which he posted an image of himself playing a major tournament on ACR Poker, with the solver software GTO Wizard open on his computer.
Barbero got off lightly following an investigation, which saw him just forfeit his stacks in the flagship Venom tournaments he was playing in on ACR poker at the time. You think he would have learned his lesson, right? Instead, talking on stream, he put ACR Poker under the spotlight again.
“This thing about GTO Wizard, bro," Barbero said. "I should have never posted it. How they gonna know? I should never have posted it online.”
Haxton replied, "I’m surprised ACR didn’t just catch it automatically, to be honest."
Barbero laughed at this and said, "I use it [inaudible]."
Haxton continued, saying, "You can just have GTO Wizard open on your computer while you’re playing and ACR doesn’t even know? Are they even trying?”
To which Barbero laughed and replied, “I don’t think they’re trying.”
You can watch the clip below.
Barbero bags chip lead as controversy brews
Barbero ended the day with the chip lead in the event, which reconvenes later today with just seven players remaining to compete for the $529,250 first-place prize. Nick Petrangelo, Shannon Shorr and Landon Tice will be among those chasing Barbero’s big stack when play resumes at 3pm PT.
But Nacho’s focus may be affected as he finds himself once more at the center of a growing storm — one that could see his ambassador status in jeopardy.
When reached for comment, ACR issued a statement that was also shared on social media:
"At ACR Poker we take our game integrity and our responsibility to ensure a fair and competitive environment for all players seriously. We expect the same from the ambassadors who represent our brand. That expectation has been tested a lot this year and in light of recent comments made by ACR ambassador Nacho Barbero on a live poker stream—comments which misrepresented our stance on third-party software and game integrity—we have already reached out to Nacho to discuss this event and consider his future with ACR Poker."
Following the original story breaking in February, an investigation by ACR Poker found that Barbero had not used GTO Wizard as real-time assistance during the play of live hands. Nevertheless, Barbero opted for a temporary, self-imposed ban from the site, abandoning his stack in the Venom tournament that was running at the time. The handling of the affair drew criticism from many online, even if nefarious intent was not proven.
Some, such as high-stakes player Sam Greenwood, pointed out that a lack of ill intent was no excuse for not following the rules and that exempting Barbero from any formal repercussions was a bad sign for game integrity.
Fellow ACR Poker ambassador Chris Moneymaker went a step further, in an exclusive interview with PokerOrg, claiming that his gut reaction to the news was that Barbero should have been fired from his role at ACR Poker.
Moneymaker went on to explain that, as far as he understood it, rules had not been bent for Barbero and — just as with any other player — his account would have been investigated and, if found not to have been using RTA, let off with a warning. However, Moneymaker felt that ambassadors should be held to a higher standard.
ACR Poker issued a statement at the time that read, "We continuously implement and refine security measures to uphold the highest standards of integrity in online poker."
In addition to being the overnight leader of the US Poker Open event, Barbero is also the face of the $2M GTD PLO Venom tournament currently running at ACR Poker.
