PUEBLO, Colo. – When your team is named the Austin Gamblers, a little bit of risk and reward is naturally baked into the organization’s approach.

And after exiting both of the first two PBR Camping World Team Series campaigns as the regular season champions, it’s fair to say the efforts have paid off.

For the most part, anyway.

Having secured a two-time World Champion in Jose Vitor Leme back in 2022 via the No. 1 overall selection during the league’s inaugural draft, the green and black squad has been set up to be a top dog off the bat.

But in wanting to kick things up a notch while bettering their year one odds of winning it all, the team made a late-season move in 2022 to acquire “Mr. 90 Point” Dalton Kasel from the Kansas City Outlaws.

Eventually suffering an early exit inside T-Mobile Arena, eliminated during their first-ever postseason matchup (despite automatically advancing to the second round, via their first-round bye earned as one of the league’s two top-ranked teams in the regular season), the squad was forced back to the drawing board.

After enduring an early exit during the inaugural slate of postseason affairs, the Michael Gaffney-led squad wasn’t settling for anything less than a Championship Game appearance in year two.

Keeping a majority of the squad together in 2023’s second go, they saw some flashes from veterans like Ramon de Lima, Lucas Divino and company, but ultimately saw Kasel endure a bit of a rideless streak throughout his final month of participation.

And for as dominant as Leme was, it wasn’t enough to get them over the hump.

“We’re always in a good mood and spirits are up. It’s not that we lost in a bad way … the Texas Rattlers rode better than we did. It’s not like ‘Oh, unfinished business’ but it is unfinished business, but it’s not as bad as it might sound,” Gamblers’ Assistant Coach Adriano Moraes said.

“We played good all season long and we’ve won the regular season twice, we just need to take one more step.”

Suffering a heartbreaking loss to the eventual 2023 PBR Teams Champion Rattlers last fall during the Championship Game by just one ride score, it was indeed time for some change once again.

Knowing Leme and Kasel are, generally speaking, going to ride more often than buck off, the team was seeking another “pocket ace” throughout the offseason.

And with the 2024 PBR Teams Expansion Draft, which saw both the New York Mavericks and Oklahoma Wildcatters begin to get their roster-related ducks in a row, the Gamblers saw the talent-leaching draft as an opportunity of their own.

Opting to send a pair of Top 16 UTB-ranked athletes in No. 12 Austin Richardson (who likely would’ve finished several spots higher had he not saw his premier series campaign come to a sudden close back in January due to a nasty injury) and No. 16 Cort McFadden (who spent the last two seasons with Austin, albeit in a secondary role, before breaking out as one of the 2024 UTB rookie class’s top-tier first-year performers) to J.B. Mauney and his new Wildcatters unit during last month’s Expansion Draft, the squad officially welcomed 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco to the already top-heavy team.

“Our team, because of him, is much, much stronger. Even though we lost two riders, I think he’s a little bit more prepared than the other boys were. And that’s just a strategy, so we’re happy that we have Kaique now,” Moraes spelled out.

“And for sure, Kaique is going to help us accomplish that (take another step in the right direction).

While the three-time World Champion in Moraes very much knows how important youth and good health play into any given cowboy’s odds of exiting a premier series season ranked No. 1 overall, he admitted his team is in a competitive window right now within the 5-on-5 landscape.

The tandem of up-and-coming riders will no doubt help Oklahoma compete right away. But it’s the men who are able to ride in the direst, high-pressure circumstances that Moraes and friends were seeking.

Somebody who can help right away.

RELATED: Oklahoma Wildcatters make two blockbuster trades during 2024 PBR Teams Expansion Draft

Needing an established veteran to help bring this team ride across the finish line in proper fashion, they tapped the former Nashville Stampede talent (who helped Justin McBride and company win it all back in 2022, despite the Cinderella Story circumstances) less than an hour after he was selected No. 1 overall in the Expansion Draft by the Wildcatters (which, only further demonstrates how he’s viewed by any of the league’s 10 teams).

“It was bittersweet because we lost Little A (Austin Richardson) and Cort (McFadden), which they are the future of this sport, but we had to in order to get a guy who’s already established and young enough that he was a good thing for our team,” Moraes said.

“We are confident with the team that we’ve put together and sure we are going to improve the team too, get some other players, but we’ll be fine. I think this is going to be the best season for the Austin Gamblers so far.”

Of course, any squad which continues to roster the two-time PBR Teams MVP in Jose Vitor Leme is very much going to have a shot to win it all, not to mention three of the world’s Top 10 or so current talents, with Kasel and Pacheco in the fold.

Yet, for as much of a role Leme has played in not only leading his team in qualified rides, 90s, combined aggregate score and beyond, it’s been the clutch fashion in which he’s turned in some of those rides, in game-winning scenarios, that has been most beneficial for the Gamblers.

But after seeing Leme officially shut down his UTB season early to rest up for the summer series, we can’t help but wonder what version of Leme will return to the chutes in July.

RELATED: Jose Vitor Leme out for remainder of 2024 Unleash The Beast campaign

“It was sad seeing that he couldn’t ride during the individual season but we are glad he decided to skip the rest of the solo season instead of skipping the Teams season,” Moraes shared.

“I think it was a smart decision for him to take some time and heal as much as he can.”

Able to piece together a 9-for-14 record overall during his 2024 premier series session, “Champ” himself was still rather efficient in the outs he attempted.

Perfect in each of his first four outs of the 2024 UTB season, he started the season with a flashy 3-for-3 debut in Tucson, Arizona, which he turned into a fourth-place finish. Extending his flawless streak to four on the year in St. Louis, Missouri, he got roughed up during the successful, yet costly, out, eventually forcing him to miss two months of the regular season.

Later returning to the circuit in early February with a pair of Top 11 efforts, placing 11th in Salt Lake City, Utah, before earning a sixth-place result in Los Angeles, California, an agitated set of lower-body injuries forced him to once again take a month off in attempting to heal up.

Giving it a go one more time to see if he had what it takes to grit it out on his way to what would’ve been a record-tying third gold buckle, he managed a set of 10th place efforts in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Nampa, Idaho, in late March.

But after getting roughed up once again, he saw the writing on the wall, eventually opting to end his campaign to give himself better odds of being able to resume his World Championship-contending form this summer for his green and black contingent.

Not fun to watch in real-time, of course. But as the rookie class continued to show up and show out, the Gamblers veteran accepted his individual glory just wasn’t in the cards this hand.

No reason to ruin the deck of summer series action, though.

Hell, if anything, it’s giving Leme some additional time to ensure his body is in a better spot come summertime.

And if he's even three-quarters of the rider he was the past two summers, we wouldn't doubt that he'll again find himself competing for the Teams MVP honors once more.

“For sure, he’s not going to be 100%, but no bull riders are 100% ever after certain injuries. But he’ll be good, he’ll be ready to ride,” Moraes said.

“I’m following him on his social media and he’s working his butt off like he always did. He’s such a professional and comedic guy, but he’ll be back and stronger than ever.”

Even if Leme requires a bit of an experimental return to the chutes come July, the league’s new schedule is set to afford teams a bit of downtime throughout the summer here and there, with “Bye Games” sprinkled in to allow riders to rest up a bit.

And if that ends up being the case, the likes of Pacheco, Kasel, Ezekiel Mitchell and company will be ready to step in and step up.

Recognized as one of the most talented and capable squads to win it all in 2024, they’d be wise to get the job done this summer if they want to make General Manager J.J. Gottsch’s moves pay off in the long run, because they are NOT playing with house money this time around!

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media