WPT Global Ambassador Deal Offers Nacho Barbero 'A New Beginning'

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Sep 14, 2025 3 min read

After parting ways with ACR earlier this year, Argentine poker pro Nacho Barbero is entering a new chapter in his high-stakes poker career as an ambassador for WPT Global.

The partnership with WPT Global, which was recently retained as the title sponsor of Triton Poker, gives Barbero a shot at redemption after a less-than-graceful exit from the unregulated poker room in April.

"I think it's a fresh start for sure, yeah," Barbero told PokerNews during the Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju II when asked about representing a new site. "Because I f***ed it up with ACR. It's my fault. It's a new beginning."

"They're Kind of Everywhere"

Since its launch in 2022, WPT Global, which is available in over a hundred countries worldwide (though not the United States), has grown into one of the most recognized and respected brands in the online poker space.

"I think they're doing a great job," said Barbero. "They're kind of everywhere. They're putting (on) really good cash games, really good tournaments. I mean it's growing a lot."

Barbero added that the site offers "different thing(s) than what we're used to," including super-deep-stacked cash games and unique blind structures.

"The cash games I've played in, they're great. They're super soft, and I like that they have like three blinds, big antes. It's a different format," said Barbero. "I think it's pretty cool what they're doing."

A Top-Notch Tournament Tour

If unique and well-run poker events are Barbero's thing, then it was no surprise to find him grinding the Triton Super High Roller Series in Jeju, the tour's second stop this year on the South Korean island after an impressive and record-breaking festival in March.

"I've never played better tournaments in my life, I'm not going to lie," said Barbero, who has three Triton titles and $14.1 million in Triton earnings. "Everything is so top-notch. The food, the venue, the chairs, the treatment to the VIPs."

"Don't get me wrong, there are other tours that are very good," said Barbero, who had just flown over from EPT Barcelona after a summer at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). "Obviously, you pay for (the luxury experience) ... but it makes the experience for a recreational player so much better."

Speaking specifically about the Jeju festival, Barbero had this to say: "It's the softest Triton stop."

Stepping Back from High-Stakes PLO

Barbero's fresh start may also mean fewer high-stakes cash games for a player who is a fixture in the Legends Room (previously Bobby's Room) at the Bellagio in Las Vegas during the World Series.

"I used to play a lot of PLO high-stakes cash games," he said. "But I felt like it wasn't the right fit for my life, because I was playing pretty much private, like drinking. They kind of force you to drink, like have fun and stuff."

That said, Barbero can still be found at the mixed game tables — which he said see him swinging $20,000 to $50,000 a night — and said he wants to help "promote" mixed games and "bring people to play mix."

Barbero played a full slate of events at the inaugural Triton ONE festival, landing just one cash with a 17th-place finish in the $10,000 Mystery Bounty worth $13,700, before transitioning to the higher-stakes Super High Roller Series. He did not cash in the $25,000 WPT Global Slam that he was representing as an ambassador, but did land a 26th-place finish in the $30,000 8-Handed event for $53,000.

_{*Photos courtesy Triton, Drew Amato, Enrique Malfavon & Spenser Sembrat}

Connor Richards is a Senior Editor U.S. for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for three Global Poker Awards for his writing.

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