Barbero under fire
Americas Cardroom (ACR) poker ambassador Nacho Barbero is in the hot seat after a promotional social media post for The Venom backfired spectacularly. On Friday, the Argentine pro uploaded a photograph of his laptop screen to his Instagram story, showing himself in action on four tables. Problematically, that image also revealed him to be mid-solve in GTO Wizard.
the poker community demanded a proper investigation
European Poker Tour (EPT) Cyprus champion Gilles Simone rang the alarm, prompting public outrage and memes galore as both Barbero and the unregulated site that he represents were criticized and lampooned. ACR responded in blunderous fashion, attempting to trivialize the issue by harking to Barbero’s reputation as a highly exploitative player. That only served to fan the flames as the poker community demanded a proper investigation.
ACR has subsequently back-tracked on its disgraceful minimization of what is yet another RTA-related transgression in the poker industry. The company apologized and has promised a thorough audit of Barbero’s account with assistance from the people at GTO Wizard. While that is, of course, better than the alternative, it is hard to have faith in the outcome of a review carried out by a site who treat their players with such contempt.
Barbero speaks out
Since this is now a scandal on two fronts, it is best to look at each separately. Firstly, did Barbero use GTO Wizard to cheat? If he did, then he should immediately become persona non-grata to his peers, treated like a pariah à la the Kruses and Imsirovices that have come before him. If he did not, and was just coaching students whilst playing, as he claims, then there must still be, at the very least, a slap on the wrist, along with a stern warning and a reminder that ambassadors must be held to the highest ethical standards.
Barbero’s case certainly wasn’t helped by his own confusing reply to Simone:
Barbero claiming ‘I don’t play online’ directly under a photo that he took with the caption ‘Today we are playing the Venom’ definitely muddied the waters. The dopey response by ACR made things worse.
This is how that statement should have read, according to Patrick ‘Pads’ Leonard:
A quick visit (presumably) to ChatGPT later, ACR had their own version:
The pads report
Leonard followed up with a post that shifted the focus away from Barbero, pointing to the broader issue of in-game GTO Wizard use and the lack of a delay within the software being an existential threat to online poker. His points were certainly valid but the community were not so willing to move on from the matter at hand. It was Leonard’s turn to do some cleaning up and he posted a video to more fully explain his perspective.
Whether it was a form of penance, self-flagellation, a good deed or all three, Leonard took it upon himself to go through Barbero’s hand histories and compare his play to GTO Wizard’s approximation of game theory optimal lines. From the videos he has posted over the weekend, it appears to be a comprehensive review, similar to what a security analyst at a poker site would do.
The results, published on Sunday, indicate that far from solver-approved/solver-informed play, Barbero’s lines deviate wildly from equilibrium. Leonard’s verdict is a resounding ‘not guilty’ of cheating but we are yet to hear from ACR on the matter.
A slippery slope for game integrity
The second issue with this story is it has induced yet another public relations fiasco from ACR. I suppose we can be grateful that they didn’t wheel Chris Moneymaker and Ebony Kenney out to promote a $100,000 in-game GTO Wizard challenge. Nonetheless, using RTA tools like GTO Wizard whilst playing is strictly against the terms of service and the site’s spokesperson seemed oblivious to just how bad it looked.
the use of poker bots or any tools that offer real-time advice on how to act at the table is forbidden
According to the rules of the Winning Poker Network (where ACR is the largest site), the use of poker bots or any tools that offer real-time advice on how to act at the table is forbidden. This extends to ‘Auto or Semi-Auto chart retrieval software’ keyed to current live play. Programs capable of complex ICM, Nash Equilibrium, expected value or Game Theory Optimal based actions, which can be used in real time, are also prohibited.
Barbero might not have used GTO Wizard to cheat but he is still guilty of breaking these rules and that must come with consequences. Without some kind of repercussion, it is a slippery slope for game integrity. Goofing begets negligence, negligence becomes laxity and laxity leads to indifference. ACR need to step up now and be vigilant because when cracks appear, bad actors turn them into gaping holes.