Backlash against unregulated poker sites continued on Friday when poker star Nacho Barbero was exposed on X for having a GTO Wizard chart up while playing on ACR Poker, the US-facing poker site he represents.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, however, denied using the RTA to assist his own play. But he and the company he promotes — ACR Poker — are facing criticism from the poker community for its response to the allegations.
Did Poker Pro Use RTA Illegally?
There are two issues in play with this story, one being that many don’t believe the excuse Barbero gave, and the other being ACR’s response. Here’s how the controversy started with a tweet from @Ghilleyyy that showed an image from Barbero’s Instagram story.
“Today we playing the vemom,” Barbero wrote on his IG story. The Venom is an ACR Poker signature event.
The image clearly shows an real-time assistance (RTA) chart on Barbero’s computer screen behind multiple ACR Poker tables. Using RTA tools, which help a player make the best possible decision during a poker game, are banned at nearly every poker site, including ACR, a site with an extensive history of bots, collusion, and RTA accusations.
Barbero, Argentina’s most accomplished poker pro ever, responded to the accusations. But it didn’t go well for him.
Barbero claims he only had the GTO Wizard chart up to coach other players on a Discord call. He didn’t use it to help his own play, according to his tweet.
“Why leaving the space in between windows to have gto wizard visible when you’re not using it?” @jscamrks asked.
“You might not be playing and using GTOwiz, if so one of your horses is using it while playing, which also is breach of TOS.. Despite you say they don’t have it.. so where is the lie and truth in your statement?” @Lasken83 argued.
Barbero then offered 10 to 1 odds that he could prove he wasn’t using the chart to assist his own play. But even if that is true, ACR’s response to the cheating accusations left many questioning if the poker site even cares about integrity.
“Nacho Barbero is a goofball and we love him. Anyone who’s played with, against or around him knows he’s not a GTO-style player and likely never will be. We’re confident he was not using GTO Wizard to gain any advantage for himself,” ACR Poker’s X account tweeted.
The controversial poker site run by Phil Nagy took off the comments on the tweet. But dozens of poker fans used the quote tweet function to voice their displeasure with the questionable response.
“Possibly the dumbest response to cheating I’ve ever heard. If you play on this site or collect a paycheck from ACR, you are scum,” @LightMyFire30 wrote.
“What if I told you a marketing team for a major poker site recently got let go and it somehow wasn’t this one,” Aaron Barone, part of the 888poker Stream Team, sarcastically commented, referring to mass layoffs among the World Poker Tour (WPT) media team.
It hasn’t been a great week for the unregulated poker sites. Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Hastings made allegations earlier this week of collusion on Ignition, another poker site operating without a license in the US, during a $1,055 buy-in tournament.
Do Videos Prove Money Bubble Collusion at Unregulated Online Poker Site?