Old timer I almost killed when I flopped top pair

Here is my part 3 of my Laughlin trip and I wanted to tell you about something funny that I saw at the tables. Well its funny NOW, but back then it got very serious.


I was playing  a MMT and doing well with a nice stack. I was on the button with about 8k in chips when player Under the gun limped in, then the Old man sitting on the Hijack position limped in as well. I looked down at AJo and raised 3x the big blind. The blinds and first limper got out of the way, but the old man sitting on the hijack was VERY quick to call. As a matter of fact, was shaking when he put his chips in. I knew something was up with him.


So the flop comes J84 rainbow. My first instinct was to bet half the pot. I have top pair with top kicker, but as I started going through my routine I noticed the old man continued to shake more and more. You could tell he was ready to pounce on any bet that I had. Both palms down on the table and a nice lean forward. As I waited to sweat him out I noticed the color of his skin began to change. Normally it takes 45 seconds for me to get this kind of read on someone, but 20 seconds was way to fast. 


I check the flop and sure enough he shoves all his chips with a squeaky all in! I know he's got something really good in his hand so I start to take my time. I know at this point I am going to fold but wanted to sweat the old man a little, but his condition didn't look good. He was shaking more and more. He began to hunch down slowly while reaching for something in his lap.  I decided I wasn't going to put him through the torture and I folded.


He flips over Pocket Kings and as he starts to gasp for air, he reaches for the pot of chips and brings them closer,  and THEN grabs this hose sitting on his lap and puts it over his nose. As I stood up to see what he was grabbing to his side I noticed an air tank. Its one of those tanks that the old smokers use and wheel around.


Once he turned it on and sucked in some air he said with  a smile "No risk, no reward. I took a chance limping in with Kings". lol He was more worried about the hand and chips then his health.  At that point it went from serious to everyone laughing. 


I felt like I was in an episode of ER and was playing against a person on their death bed!! 


Anyone ever seen anything like this before? If so share.