After the controversy where ACR’s sponsored player, Nacho Barbero, posted a photo of him using GTO wizard while having poker tables open, things calmed down for a while, but now here we go again.
In one of the PokerGO live streams, Nacho talked to Isaac Haxton about how he regrets posting the controversial photo and added another controversial statement, “How they gonna know,” referring to ACR’s ability to detect if players are using real-time assistance (RTA) tools during play. Haxton responded by saying he was surprised that ACR didn’t catch it automatically. Nacho just laughed, and after being asked by Haxton, “Are they even trying?” Nacho said, “I don’t think they are trying.”
As expected, the whole situation didn’t resonate well with ACR, and a new drama was launched. ACR came out with a post on X saying, “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.”
Below that X post, there were also a few interesting comments. One was from popular chess/poker streamer Alexandra Botez, who reminded ACR about their debt to creators who did some work for the site but didn’t get paid for their work.
There is also a clip from 2024 in which popular streamer Ludwig talks about ACR not paying him for his service, which is the collaboration he regrets the most.
- Read more: Streamer Ludwig Says He Got Scammed by ACR
The rumors are that ACR has a new director, that content creators, streamers, and potentially other employees are unsatisfied with the treatment, and that their pay has been reduced.
One of the faces of ACR Poker/ambassador, Chris Moneymaker, said in one of the interviews that Barbero should have been fired from his role at ACR. Moneymaker also added that even if Barbero was not guilty of using GTO Wizard, he shouldn’t just be warned like any other player; as the ambassador of ACR, he should have been held to a higher standard and have more responsibility.
We also have to be realistic that ACR is not the only site with this kind of problem. Other big sites don’t detect/punish players using GTO Wizard unless they are reported by other players (which is extremely rare, as it’s hard to know for a fact if somebody was cheating). There are also situations where players are using custom-made HUDs or converters to have more advanced HUDs than the one the site has already integrated, account sharing to take advantage of leaderboard grinds, etc.
There was also a discussion about punishing players who cheat in online poker by not being allowed to play in live events. Earlier this year, GGPoker made headlines by banning 31 accounts for solver-related violations, in partnership with GTO Wizard, as part of their ongoing efforts to uphold game integrity across the platform.
WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage also raised the question of how long the banned players should be banned and reminded us that people who were accused/banned for multi-accounting back in the day are the most successful players we have today.
For some reason, I feel that this is not the end of the situation and that more things may come to the surface. We may also see other unsatisfied insiders become more vocal, especially if one of their colleagues (Barbero) gets fired over this situation. And for us neutral observers, it’s another popcorn hour courtesy of ACR!
