The US Poker Open concluded at the Poker Go studio last week. Shannon Shorr won the final $25,000 buy-in event, with Nacho Barbero coming in second.
On the pre-bubble, with 16 players remaining (blinds 10k/15k/15k), Clemen Dan in the CO with 16 blinds opened with a raise with , Nacho in the BB announced all-in with and took the pot.
Next, Ike Haxton and Nacho Barbero got into a conversation that had huge implications (for ACR and their sunglass-wearing ambassador).
Nacho: "50/50 – solver said. I should never have posted about that GTO Wizard, how would they know? I should have never posted it."
Haxton: "I'm surprised ACR didn't catch it automatically."
Nacho: (Laughing) "Are you surprised?"
Haxton: "So you have GTO Wizard open at the same time as you're playing and ACR doesn't even know? Do they even make an effort to detect it?"
Nacho: "I don't think so."
The scandal that Haxton recalled happened back in the winter, we covered it in detail. ACR's PR service then justified Nacho, calling him a "goofball."
A couple of weeks later, Ebony Kenny, who also has a sponsorship contract with the room, found herself in a similar situation.
Only Friends podcast co-host Conrad Simpson posted a clip of Nacho and Ike's conversation on Twitter , which predictably drew a lot of reaction in the comments.
“At least he’s honest,” most commentators agreed.
"The ClubWPT Gold scams have become too realistic," Barry Carter quoted the clip as saying.
The official ClubWPT Gold account also did not stand aside:
– "Here at ClubWPT Gold we will revolutionize online poker security by…trying."
The ClubWPT social media team followed up later with two tweets pointed directly at the ACR team.
“The fact that you can still play in the black at ACR is the most convincing argument that online poker is alive,” Patrick Howard says cheerfully.
– ACR will never change. Their leadership is a clown show, – says high roller Wouter “MMAsherdog” Beumers. – If you like low rake, access from almost anywhere on a site that won't steal your money, go play. Just don’t expect ACR to get its act together. They won’t.
"Hold on, this might be AI," streamer Aaron Baron called for calm. "Can we get a friend of Nachos to investigate whether he even said it? It would really put my mind at ease."
– Pads, can you justify him this time too? – one of the commentators addressed Patrick Leonard, who stood up for Nacho during the first scandal.
“I’ll stay out of it this time,” Patrick replied. “There’s simply nothing more to add.”
But it was not possible to remain silent.
– The sites should have the capability to know if GTO Wizard is open, – one reader wrote. – According to @padspoker recent tweet CoinPoker can tell, so the other sites, especially regulated ones, should figure out how they do and implement the same system.
– You can’t have sites open when you play CoinPoker, – Pads confirmed. – We will detect them and close them. A 2nd computer isn’t detectable (yet) but we make it as hard and annoying as possible for cheaters. We take all security concerns v seriously but I honestly get very little concerns about cheating from players. People kinda assume/know the games are clean.
– Are you saying that CoinPoker automatically monitors your internet browser history and has the ability to close tabs on your browser when you play on the site? – Sam Greenwood clarified.
– Not close tabs on the browser, but close the CoinPoker application. If you open GTO Wizard in a browser it will turn CoinPoker off, not close the tab on your browser.
The ACR's official response was not long in coming, but, as in previous cases, it struck readers as completely lacking in content:
– 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.
Commentators immediately noted the consistency in the actions of the room's management:
– Nacho posts a screenshot of GTO Wizard – he's just a cheerful slacker. Nacho criticizes ACR – let's discuss his future.
“Well, at least you tried,” one reader noted ironically.
“Really trying to understand the point of this post,” Alex Duval remained perplexed.
– Stop using Nacho as a scapegoat, and take responsibility, – urged MMAsherdog, – You made excuses when some of your pros were caught cheating. Nacho gains nothing by calling out ACR. To be fair, ACR's is fighting an unwinnable battle. Cheaters exist, and it's impossible to ban everyone in time.
"Wait huh... so you're letting us know you're going to talk to him about not admitting you allow cheating, and don't really do anything about it? Thank God. Finally we might get some action from ACR!" Enigma found it.
It seemed that Nacho had escaped any serious consequences. In the next ACR post, he appeared on an advertisement the next Venom tournaments. He continued to post advertisements as if nothing happened.
UPD: Late in the evening of April 21, ACR reported on Twitter that the contract with Nacho will be terminated after all:
– Statement from Phil Nagy, CEO of ACR Poker.
At ACR Poker, we hold our team members to the highest standards of integrity and commitment. Recent comments by team pro Nacho Barbero regarding the use of GTO Wizard have raised serious concerns about his understanding of our security measures and his role as an ambassador.
To our knowledge, Nacho has not brought any security concerns or questions to us, either in team pro meetings or through direct communication. As an ambassador, partner, and friend, we expect our team pros to engage with us proactively if they have any concerns about the platform.
We never censor our pros or tell them what to say, but we do expect them to speak truthfully and be well-informed about our security efforts so they can represent us—and the facts—accurately.
The nature of these comments reflects a fundamental misalignment with our values. As a result, we have decided to part ways with Nacho as an ambassador for ACR Poker.
We remain committed to ensuring a positive and secure gaming experience for our community, built on the foundation of trust and respect.
You can already imagine what the comment section under the post looked like.