Both Americas Cardroom and Patrick Leonard have found Nacho Barbero “not guilty” of using RTA-help during a recent online tournament.
Nacho plays more like a malfunctioned bot than a gto guy checking hands. I remember the old bots who would be programmed to fold to min 3bs and you could min 3b them from the bb and get 60% folds 🙂 https://t.co/omQeYGLNIM pic.twitter.com/o2QdZHv40x
— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) February 3, 2025
Along with Leonard, ACR ambassador Barbero’s own site revealed: also revealed: “Following a thorough internal investigation of all hands played in the tournaments Nacho participated in, we have concluded that at no point did he use real-time assistance (RTA) to aid his or any other player’s decision-making during live hands.”
What happened?
Discussion over Barbero’s online behaviour broke this week when he shared a pic of his online setup, which not only had tournaments open but also GTO Wizard, a solver app that potentially allows for RTA (Real-Time Assistance).
As we explained earlier this week, there has been a call for solvers such as GTO Wizard to be blocked by sites during actual play and only allowed as a study tool.
Barbero claimed that he had been using it during lessons with students and not for his own play, but the baying mobs weren’t convinced, demanding an investigation.
What the investigations found…
Not only did ACR carry out their own internal investigation, but Patrick Leonard also looked deeply not Nacho’s play, and the results shocked nobody who knows the Argentinian pro…
I used GTOW analyser to compare how nacho played on January 30th vs how the solver would play. He played a 23% vpip so remember 77% of hands/decisions are just folds https://t.co/omQeYGLNIM pic.twitter.com/mLsZ0UO7rj
— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) February 3, 2025
The English pro added: “I’ve also used GTOW official analyser to compare how he played vs how gtow should play. He makes substantial errors and when dealt into hands makes errors arrow 30% of the time including an average of 2.17 ev loss per every 100 hands that he plays.
Leonard concludes: “I can confirm with almost 100% certainty that he did not play “GTOW approved”,” adding: “I’ll share all the hands publically [sic] so you can put into your analysers to see if you get the same information too. Once this data is fully analysed I’ll show the figures too.”
That is the same answer as ACR came up with in their internal investigation…
At ACR Poker, we are committed to maintaining the integrity of our games and upholding the highest standards of fair play.
Recently, a screenshot surfaced showing one of our sponsored PROs, @nacho_barbero, with GTO Wizard open in the background while playing on our platform. We…— ACR Poker (@ACR_POKER) February 3, 2025
Barbero himself tweeted out a response to the “not guilty” verdict, stating:
“I am very happy that the ACR investigation verifies what I have said previously. I did not cheat, and I have never cheated. I love this game too much to ever do anything that would compromise my integrity or my reputation.”
Barbero’s Self-imposed Punishment
The 42-year-old from Buenos Aires also expressed his regret at how things must have looked to others and revealed a self-imposed punishment:
“As someone who represents not just ACR but the game itself, I should have been more aware of how my actions could be perceived. And I understand that some people will continue to question my actions during Venom. For that reason I have decided to forfeit the rest of my play in the Venom and the two active stacks I have in play.”
He finished with a heartfelt expression of love for the game…
— Jose Ignacio Barbero (@nacho_barbero) February 3, 2025
ACR, who had initially dismissed the concerns basically because “Nacho doesn’t GTO”, did the right thing to investigate, and Leonard’s reputation should really put this story to rest.
Do you use RTA?
However, the English pro also ran an online poll to see just how many players had/hadn’t used RTA…
Leonard summed up vote: “Very interesting results and it’s a sample size that’s probably very similar to the field size of the Venom. Putting it into numbers, the numbers are HUGE!”
- 409 pros who have/do use.
- 655 pros who don’t/haven’t used
- 437 amateurs who have/do use
- 1229 amateurs who don’t/haven’t used
“If this doesn’t show sites that you shouldn’t partner/support/fund RTAs that don’t have delay then you either don’t know about the #s or don’t care about the integrity of the game. It also debunks the argument that these RTA are used by amateurs more than pros.”
It points once again to the most important issue: those with the power to change things and make live solver help impossible must get to work on it, and quickly.
While they don’t, players (such as Nacho Barbero) will make mistakes and pay for it, while bad actors (such as Ali Imsirovic) will abuse holes in the defences.
What do you think about solvers and RTA-use? Are you surprised by the numbers in Leonard’s poll? Let us know in the comments on our social media!
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