For most poker players, the dream is simple.
Play. Move up the stakes. Break through.
For Jarred “GodsBigToePoker” Gabin, that opportunity may finally be here.
After years of grinding online tournaments while balancing a career outside poker, Gabin is now part of Hero’s Journey, a new coaching project from PokerCoaching in which high-stakes professionals Justin Saliba and Brock Wilson are backing and coaching two players attempting to reach $100,000 in tournament profit.
For Gabin, the challenge represents more than just another poker experiment.
“Success in this challenge would mean far more to me than just a result on paper,” Gabin said. “It would be validation. Proof that I can finally break through and reach goals I’ve been chasing for most of my poker life.”
It may be his best shot yet at the breakthrough he’s been chasing for years, and possibly the one that defines what comes next.
A Poker Journey Years in the Making
Gabin’s story in poker isn’t one of overnight success. Instead, it’s the path many serious players know well: steady improvement, consistent results, and a long grind without the kind of breakthrough that defines a career.
“I’m nearing 50 now, and I’ve been around this game for a long time,” Gabin said. “At this stage, opportunities like this don’t come around often.”
Over the years, poker has been an important part of his life, but not his primary career. Gabin built a stable professional path in IT while treating poker as a serious side pursuit.
That structure allowed him to approach the game differently than many full-time professionals.
“Poker has treated me well,” he said. “I’ve never had a losing year.”
Rather than relying on poker income, his winnings often funded travel, hobbies, and long-term financial goals. But despite the consistent success, he always felt there was another level he hadn’t quite reached.
“I’ve lived comfortably in the space just below it,” he explained. “Good, consistent, but not quite where I always believed I could be.”
After years of balancing poker alongside a career, this challenge represents something bigger than just results.
“It’s a chance to transform what has been a deeply fulfilling and reasonably lucrative passion into something sustainable,” Gabin said. “Something I could rely on as I eventually transition out of my career and into retirement without financial anxiety.”
For the first time, poker isn’t just part of the plan. It might become the plan.
The Study Group That Changed Everything
Long before the Hero’s Journey challenge, the foundation for this opportunity had already been built in a small, informal poker study group.
Back in 2017, he and fellow grinder Shaundle “CrazySixes66” Pruitt were spending hours analyzing poker hands and studying tournament strategy together.
Around that time, they met a young low-stakes player named Justin Saliba.
At the time, Saliba was still grinding small games while working outside of poker. But the three quickly developed a strong study routine.
“We became friends instantly, studying for hours on end multiple times a week,” Gabin said.
Those sessions eventually expanded into a broader poker community. Gabin helped build and manage PokerCoaching’s Discord server while hosting study groups and hand review sessions for players looking to improve.
Meanwhile, Saliba’s career began to accelerate.
Working closely with Jonathan Little and gaining exposure to elite coaches, Saliba soon became one of the most respected tournament players and strategists in the game. But despite the success, the friendships from those early study sessions never faded.
A Rare Opportunity
In October 2025, Saliba reached out to Gabin with an idea. The concept was simple: identify strong mid-stakes players who appeared stuck just below the next level, provide them with elite coaching and backing, and document the entire process.
The project would become Hero’s Journey.
Initially, the opportunity was offered to Pruitt. But once Gabin heard about the project, he knew he couldn’t pass it up. “There was no way I could let the chance to be coached by some of the best minds in poker slip by,” he said.
He reached out to Saliba and asked to join the challenge. Without hesitation, Saliba agreed.
The Pressure of Playing Backed
For Gabin, the challenge introduced an entirely new experience.
For years, he had played poker with his own bankroll. Now he was competing with financial backing and with a public audience watching the results. “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 and shared publicly added a whole new layer of intensity.” The mental shift took some adjustment.
Playing backed meant that losses no longer felt purely personal. Instead, they carried the added weight of knowing he was risking someone else’s money.
“Early on, thoughts about makeup or even the possibility of getting cut were very real and hard to ignore,” he said.
A Rough Start
Like most tournament poker stories, the challenge didn’t begin with immediate success.
While Pruitt started the project on a heater playing at ClubWPT Gold, Gabin ran directly into a downswing online. “I went straight into a $3K downswing,” he said.
It wasn’t the start he had envisioned, but it was a reminder of how unforgiving tournament poker can be, especially when everything is under the spotlight.
The timing wasn’t surprising. At the same time he was beginning the challenge, Gabin was also making significant changes to his strategy based on coaching sessions with Saliba and Wilson.
“When you overhaul the way you think and play, there’s always an adjustment period,” he said. “You tend to overdo some things, underdo others, and it takes time to find the balance.”
That balance eventually began to appear.
In recent sessions, Gabin reported a $5,000 upswing and reached his first profit split in the challenge.
Rebuilding His Tournament Strategy
Much of that progress has come from the detailed coaching sessions that define the Hero’s Journey project. For Gabin, the experience has exposed areas of his game that he hadn’t fully examined before.
“I realized I was still carrying some old-school tendencies,” he said. While many of his strategies had been profitable at lower stakes, they weren’t always optimized for stronger fields.
“I wasn’t pushing my equity hard enough,” he explained. “I was bluffing in the wrong spots and not nearly enough in the right ones.”
One key concept that changed his thinking was understanding the power of thin value betting. Those small decisions, Gabin realized, can have a huge long-term impact.
“Those thin value bets don’t just squeeze out extra profit when I’m ahead,” he said. “They also reduce losses when I’m behind.”
Over time, those marginal edges add up. “It’s not always about the big hero plays,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the subtle decisions that make the biggest difference.”
A Chance at Something Bigger
For Gabin, the $100,000 challenge represents more than just tournament results. It represents the possibility of turning years of work into something transformative.
“The idea that I could have a real shot at a six-figure year in poker isn’t just about money,” he said. “It’s about freedom and what that number unlocks.”
“Poker keeps me sharp, engaged, and constantly learning,” he said. “It challenges my mind in ways few things do, and it’s a game I genuinely love.”
If the challenge succeeds, it could allow Gabin to rethink what the next stage of his life looks like.
“Being able to step away from my IT career, not worry about money, and still compete in a game I genuinely love would be a dream scenario,” he said. Poker has always been part of his life, but now it might finally become something more.
The Journey Ahead
For now, the challenge is still in its early stages. There are many tournaments left to play, many coaching sessions ahead, and plenty of swings still to come.
But for a player who has spent years hovering just below the next level, this opportunity carries a different weight.
“The Hero’s Journey isn’t just another poker project to me,” Gabin said. “It feels like a door that doesn’t open very often.”
This time, he plans to walk through it.
After years of chasing a breakthrough, this could finally be the moment where everything comes together.
You can follow Gabin’s progress inside PokerCoaching, where the full Hero’s Journey series tracks the coaching sessions, key adjustments, and results as he and Pruitt pursue the $100,000 goal.
