For many poker players, studying means long hours alone with videos, solvers, and hand histories.
For Shaundle “CrazySixes66” Pruitt, improvement has always been community-driven.
For years, he’s hosted weekly study groups inside the PokerCoaching Discord, where players review hands, build ranges, and learn the strategies needed to beat small-stakes tournaments and move up.
Those sessions are still running today, and anyone can join for real insights.
Now Pruitt is putting his own game to the test as one of the players featured in Hero’s Journey, a PokerCoaching project where high-stakes professionals Justin Saliba and Brock Wilson coach and back two grinders as they attempt to reach $100,000 in online tournament profit.
The question now is simple: can a longtime small-stakes grinder make the jump and turn years of study into a breakthrough run?
From Study Groups to the $100K Challenge
Pruitt’s connection to the project goes back nearly a decade. Around 2017, he met a young poker player named Justin Saliba, who was still grinding low-stakes games while working outside the poker world.
“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,” Pruitt said.
Back then, the three players were simply studying the game together and trying to improve. Over time, those sessions grew into something bigger.
Pruitt and Jarred Gabin eventually launched a PokerCoaching study stream, inviting players and coaches to discuss tournament strategy while helping grow the community around the platform.
The project ran for years and became an important part of PokerCoaching’s online ecosystem.
During that time, Pruitt also helped build the PokerCoaching Discord community while hosting study groups and strategy discussions for players looking to improve.
A Return to the Spotlight
For several years, Pruitt balanced poker with content creation and streaming. But eventually, the constant pressure of producing content began to take its toll.
“I was a full-time content creator and poker player for seven years,” he said. “I did very well, but ultimately I burned out and completely lost interest in creating content again.”
In the year leading up to Hero’s Journey, Pruitt stepped away from social media and focused on studying the game and spending more time with family.
When Saliba approached him with the challenge, however, the opportunity was difficult to ignore. “The fact that Justin asked me to do this challenge and believes I’m capable of completing it means a lot to me,” Pruitt said.
Training alongside some of the best players in the world was a rare chance, and one he was eager to take.
Rethinking His Tournament Strategy
Like many experienced grinders, Pruitt entered the project with years of tournament experience.
But working closely with elite players quickly revealed areas where his approach could improve.
“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 adjustments has been learning to challenge opponents more aggressively in marginal situations.
“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.
The coaching sessions have also changed how he thinks about decision-making during tournaments. “They’ve helped reframe the way I approach the entire process,” he said. “There’s a lot that goes into performing at a high level.”
The Role of Community in Poker Improvement
Even as he works through the Hero’s Journey challenge, Pruitt continues to contribute to the PokerCoaching community.
For years, he has hosted weekly study sessions where players review hands and discuss tournament strategy. “Every Thursday we spend two to three hours reviewing hand histories, constructing ranges, and developing strategies,” he said.
Occasionally, PokerCoaching coaches such as Justin Saliba or Matt Affleck join the sessions to offer additional insight.
Over time, the study groups have helped players achieve major improvements in their results. “We’ve even seen some students take their games to the next level and achieve life-changing results,” Pruitt said.
For Pruitt, teaching poker has always been part of the learning process.
“One of the biggest benefits of coaching has been the chance to reinforce my own fundamentals,” he said. “Things like constructing solid ranges, choosing bet sizes across different board textures and runouts, and adjusting ranges based on player tendencies.”
That repetition has had a direct impact on his own game.
“Going through that process consistently has ultimately made me a much stronger poker player overall.”
It’s a dynamic many players overlook. Teaching isn’t separate from improvement. For Pruitt, it has been one of the main drivers behind it.
Climbing the Stakes
At the start of the challenge, Pruitt began grinding online tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $5 to $33. As the project progressed, he moved up to playing events in the $11-$110 range, primarily on Americas Cardroom and ClubWPT Gold.
Like many online grinders, he balances poker with other commitments, typically playing several days per week while continuing to study the game. The goal is steady progress rather than short-term results.
Following the Journey
Hero’s Journey is designed to document what it actually takes to move up stakes in modern tournament poker.
For Pruitt, the challenge represents both a personal opportunity and a chance to share the learning process with the wider poker community.
You can follow Pruitt’s progress inside PokerCoaching, where the Hero’s Journey series tracks the coaching sessions, key adjustments, and results as he and Jarred Gabin pursue the $100,000 goal.
Along the way, the series also highlights the strategies and concepts players need to consistently win at lower stakes and develop the skills required to climb higher in today’s competitive tournament environment.
