Eight years ago, Justin Saliba was grinding low-stakes poker and studying strategy with two friends in a small online study group.
Today, Justin is a high-stakes tournament professional with millions in earnings, and he’s now coaching and backing those same two players in a challenge to win $100,000 in online MTTs.
The project, called Hero’s Journey, pairs Justin Saliba and fellow high-stakes pro Brock Wilson with grinders Shaundle “CrazySixes66” Pruitt and Jarred “GodsBigToePoker” Gabin as they attempt to climb up the stakes.
Along the way, the series also shows what it actually takes to beat lower-stakes games and make the jump to tougher fields, with every step documented inside PokerCoaching.
But the story behind the challenge actually began years earlier.
A Poker Story That Started in a Study Group
Long before the coaching series began, Saliba, Pruitt, and Gabin were simply poker players trying to improve together.
The three first connected around 2017 through local games and online study sessions. At the time, Saliba was still a relatively unknown player grinding low-stakes cash games while working outside of poker.
Pruitt remembers those early days clearly.
“It’s been awesome watching Justin go from being a complete maniac recreational cash game player who played for fun a few times a year, to studying with Toe and me a few times a week, to where he is now,” he said.
What started as a casual study quickly became something more structured. The group spent hours reviewing hands and discussing strategy while also building a growing community around poker study.
“We became friends instantly, studying for hours on end multiple times a week,” Gabin said.
As Saliba’s career began to accelerate, eventually working with Jonathan Little at PokerCoaching and building a reputation as one of the most respected tournament minds in the game, the friendships remained.
Years later, those same study partners are now the focus of a new challenge.
The $100K Challenge
Hero’s Journey pairs Justin Saliba and Brock Wilson as coaches and backers while Pruitt and Gabin grind online tournaments with the goal of reaching $100,000 in profit.
For Saliba, the motivation behind the project was simple.
“I think my motivation mostly comes from wanting to give back to two guys who helped me a lot early in my career,” he said. “I’ve watched them over the years be consistent winners, but just have a few things holding each of them back from moving up stakes.”
Saliba believes the potential has always been there.
“With their work ethic and their fundamentals, if they can sharpen up a few different areas of their game, they can crush the mid-stakes consistently.”
Wilson is a high-stakes professional with over $12 million in live tournament earnings and joined the project to help guide the strategic adjustments required to succeed at tougher levels.
The challenge isn’t just about the results. It’s also about documenting the process of moving from small-stakes to mid-stakes online tournaments, which is a step many players struggle to take. Learn more about what you will find inside the challenge here.
Why Moving Up Stakes Is So Difficult
At first glance, moving up in poker seems simple: win at one level, then start playing bigger games. In reality, the transition is far more complicated.
According to Saliba, the biggest adjustment players face is balancing simple strategies that work against weaker opponents with the more complex approaches required against stronger competition.
“As you move up stakes, and your opponents improve, simple strategies like c-bet small with everything don’t work anymore,” he explained. “You need to identify when simple tricks can be used and when you should play a more complex strategy.”
Another challenge is the change in expected results.
“If you have a 25% ROI at small stakes, you won’t retain that when moving up,” Saliba said. “You have to fight through the swings and stay resilient.”
Both Pruitt and Gabin have experienced those adjustments firsthand.
“One of the biggest challenges has been unlearning the tricks and habits that worked at lower stakes,” Gabin said. “Those shortcuts and little exploits can print money against weaker fields. But as the competition gets tougher, those same habits don’t just stop working, they get punished.”
Early Swings and Pressure
Adding another layer of difficulty is the fact that the entire process is being documented publicly.
For Gabin, that pressure was immediate.
“The world was watching,” he said. “I’m fairly well known in the low- to mid-stakes poker space, and knowing that this entire process was being recorded added a whole new layer of intensity.”
The start of the challenge reflected the reality of tournament variance. While Pruitt began with early success, Gabin immediately hit a downswing.
“I went straight into a $3K downswing,” he said. But the project focuses as much on the mental side of poker as it does on strategy.
Through coaching sessions and discussions with Saliba and Wilson, both players have worked on identifying tilt triggers and maintaining focus during difficult stretches.
The results have already begun to turn.
Gabin recently reported a $5,000 upswing and reached his first profit split in the challenge.
The Coaching Process
Much of the learning happens during detailed hand reviews and discussions with the coaches.
Pruitt says the experience has forced him to rethink parts of his game.
“Having some of the best players in the world review your play is humbling,” he said. “They see leaks you didn’t even know you had.”
One of the biggest lessons so far has been learning to compete more aggressively in marginal spots. “The best piece of advice I’ve taken from them is that you have to fight for pots if you want to win,” Pruitt explained.
For Gabin, the adjustments have gone deeper. He describes the process as a complete recalibration of his approach to tournaments.
“I realized I was still carrying some old-school tendencies,” he said. “I wasn’t pushing my equity hard enough, and I was bluffing in the wrong spots. Once those gaps were identified, the adjustments started to click.”
A Community Effort
Beyond the coaching sessions, both players are also deeply involved in the PokerCoaching community.
Pruitt has hosted study groups in the PokerCoaching Discord for years, regularly reviewing hands and discussing strategy with other players.
“Every Thursday we spend two to three hours reviewing hand histories, constructing ranges, and developing strategies,” he said.
For both players, those communities have played a major role in their development. “Teaching the game is one of the best ways to improve your own understanding of it,” Gabin added.
More Than Just a Number
While the challenge focuses on a $100,000 profit goal, the meaning behind that milestone differs for each player.
For Gabin, the number represents more than just the results in the table. Reaching that level could provide the freedom to pursue poker more seriously in the next chapter of his life.
“Being able to step away from my IT career and still compete in a game I love would be a dream scenario,” he said.
For Pruitt, the challenge is less about the financial milestone and more about the opportunity itself. “The fact that Justin believes I’m capable of completing it means a lot as a competitor,” he said.
Following the Journey
Hero’s Journey is designed to show what it actually takes to move up stakes in modern tournament poker.
Not just the theory but the decisions, mistakes, adjustments, and swings that come with it.
For players watching the series and trying to make the same leap, both grinders offer a simple piece of advice:
Find people to study with.
“Find study partners or study groups,” Pruitt said. “Using a solver alone isn’t enough.”
The journey toward $100,000 has only just begun.
But for four players connected by years of study, friendship, and competition, the story behind the challenge may be just as compelling as the final result.
