Patrick Leonard has delivered a stark warning for online poker, saying that "we're in a very dark time" after the latest cheating allegations rocked the game.
ACR Poker ambassador Nacho Barbero was vindicated by both an internal ACR investigation and a separate one conducted by Leonard himself after he posted an image of himself playing on the site with a GTO Wizard window open on his Instagram account.
Using GTO Wizard – which can help make optimal real-time decisions while playing – is prohibited on ACR Poker and most other sites. Both investigations found that while Nacho had GTO Wizard open, he didn't use it to help himself or anyone else while playing.
Leonard, who admitted he was a friend of Barbero's, added his voice to the ACR investigation but went further in his condemnation of Barbero, whom he believes should be "held to a higher standard" as an ambassador for the site.
Leonard also used strong language to highlight what he sees as a huge problem for online poker from tools like GTO Wizard.
Nacho Barbero has been cleared of cheating but is guilty of having GTO Wizard open while playing.Dark time for online poker
In a video posted on X, Leonard said, "Overall, I analyzed 652 hands from Nacho. I looked and researched around about 100 of those hands, looking deep into what the solver would do.
"After all of this, after spending maybe 10 plus hours, [I concluded] that Nacho was in no way using GTO Wizard to cheat preflop or post-flop. In almost every close spot, he used either a different sizing to what GTO Wizard would use or a different hand selection. Post-flop, he had completely different ideas than what GTO Wizard would do."
Lenoard went on to say, "The fact that he had GTO Wizard up in the background is definitely very, very bad, and something that he is guilty of doing, and something that, as an ambassador, he needs to be held to higher standards and shouldn't be done under any circumstance."
Leonard said that GTO Wizard should introduce a delay that would stop it being used in real-time. And that sites should be able to detect it and shut tables down. He also said that after running a poll on X, players should expect around 10% of the field in a Venom (ACR's flagship tournament) or a WSOP Online event to be doing "something nefarious."
"I believe we're in a very dark time in online poker right now," he said. "I feel like GTO Wizard is the main reason. And I feel like sites that are supporting them and working with them as partners are just helping fund this very, very dangerous organization. However, I do believe Nacho is also very guilty of having GTO Wizard open."
You can watch the full video from Leonard below.
