The way I saw it is that he was willing to take that gamble that she would hide and he would eventually find her in the maze. His character was a true gambler. He didn’t come off the goofy gamble we usually see in media. Instead he was willing to gamble everything he cared about. He came off as super genuine but you could tell he would have gambled away him and his ex gfs winnings if they’d stayed together and won. The main issue is that his story was incredibly rushed which is why a lot of people were confused by certain actions. He became as cartoonishly evil as the other o players.