Jose Ignacio Barbero

Jose Ignacio Barbero

Like scores of other poker players, Argentina’s Jose Ignacio Barbero started out playing the strategy game Magic: The Gathering. He competed in tournaments for his national team, and it was while at one of these events that he was introduced to Texas Hold’em and the glamorous lifestyle that he would soon be living.

His first successes on the poker circuit were a string of modest but steady cashes at events across Europe, especially in Paris and Barcelona. Jose has also scored big in events on the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). He came second in a side event at the Punta del Este leg of Season 1 for $30,000, followed by a final table appearance in the Main Event at the Mar del Plata stop in Season 2, worth another $28,220. In 2009 Jose made his first WSOP* final table, finishing eighth in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout event for $13,655. He then became only the second Latin American player to win an LAPT title, when he took down the Season 3 event in Punta del Este and first place prize money of $279,330, Jose has also won big online, and picked up $62,780 for winning his first Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) title in May 2010. Also that month he scored a tournament win in Europe, claiming the inaugural event of the France Poker Series, good for €40,123. He then cemented his reputation as one of the top players in the world by winning a second successive LAPT Main Event. He took down LAPT Lima to claim back-to-back titles and $250,000 in prize money, in what was a brilliant performance from an incredible player. The hot streak continued online at the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) when Jose finished 3rd in an 8-Game event for another huge cash of $172,900, and got even hotter when he won the High Roller event at EPT London, good for another £556,000.

Jose is proud to be representing his country for PokerStars, and will be looking to add even more major titles to his resume in the years to come. He plays online at PokerStars using the screen name ‘nachobarbero’.