$33 MTT on ACR. Sitting 15/33, 27 get paid. Villain is 38/28/9.1 after 53 hands. He has been using his stack and opening/calling often and has been betting and calling down with one pair.

I want to play for the win but at the same point after grinding for 4 hours I also want to get paid for my time. Against players with smaller stacks than me I slow play this flop for sure but in this spot, near the bubble vs a much bigger stack the demons start to get in my head and tell me to do anything to avoid getting sucked out on.

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software

NL Holdem $800.00(BB)
HJ ($58357.00) [VPIP: 37.7% | PFR: 28.3% | AGG: 24% | 3-Bet: 9.1% | Hands: 53]
CO ($27596.00) [VPIP: 24.1% | PFR: 7.4% | AGG: 29.4% | 3-Bet: 0% | Hands: 54]
BTN ($54046.00) [VPIP: 17.9% | PFR: 13.7% | AGG: 10.5% | 3-Bet: 4.4% | Hands: 117]
SB ($10184.00) [VPIP: 11.4% | PFR: 11.4% | AGG: 0% | 3-Bet: 5.3% | Hands: 44]
BB ($43275.00) [VPIP: 22.9% | PFR: 18.8% | AGG: 15.8% | 3-Bet: 5.3% | Hands: 48]
UTG ($18349.00) [VPIP: 14.8% | PFR: 9.3% | AGG: 22.2% | 3-Bet: 13.6% | Hands: 54]
HERO ($22411.00) [VPIP: 25.5% | PFR: 14% | AGG: 28.6% | 3-Bet: 7.1% | Hands: 13931]
MP ($29341.00) [VPIP: 25% | PFR: 12.5% | AGG: 28.6% | 3-Bet: 25% | Hands: 32]

Dealt to Hero: J J

UTG Folds, HERO Raises To $1700, MP Folds, HJ Raises To $2525, CO Folds, BTN Folds, SB Folds, BB Folds, HERO Calls $825

Hero SPR on Flop: [2.9 effective]
Flop ($6850.00): J 6 5
HERO ….

I considered betting here thinking he might try to bluff/raise me off my hand or he would fold not having a piece of the board. If I check I knew there was a high probability he would throw out a bet to which I wasn't sure if I would just flat and then either jam or check/jam any turn or check-raise thinking there was a good chance he would call with any over pair or any J and then jam turn. Meanwhile my mind just kept telling me "don't let him suck out on you at this stage in the tournament".

Villain doesn’t seem overly aggressive stats wise. Unless he made some kind of hand on a later street you may of gotten max value here. Nothing wrong with the raise.

Could of maybe waited to the turn to raise. I don’t think there’s many turn cards you have to worry about.

His preflop raise size seems kind of weird. Unless there’s some preflop sizings out there I’m not aware of that people are doing nowadays it was a misclick or dude is fishy.

when you flop top set if your mind thinks anything but how can i get him and me all in you are hurting your game. Sets are big time $$ winners and they should be played with all in intentions. Thats a super safe looking rather dry board. Check call flop check raise the turn. Bet the river. get as much in as you can.

I'm sorry, but min cashing is not getting paid. Get that mentality. Don't be afraid of busting before cashing, it happens to every profitable poker player and it's the SIGN that you are not scared money
You only get paid when you finish TOP 3

As played you want all your chips in the middle. Plan your hands on the flop, use all your time bank to plan flop turns Nd rivers before you move a single chip
With top set you block his continuing range ( only one J in the deck) so bet small or check. Look for cards to keep barreling or try to check/raise turn.
In all cases if you get to the river, you BET. Try to figure out his range and what hands will paid you ( if it goes back blank you can bet 1/3 to get value of his A highs.)

the chances that they have sub 5% equity is too high, you got to slow play that top set, on average players will bully closer to the money so i would be check calling flop and turn

Stopped reading after this. You will never find success in MTTs if this is your mindset. You should always play to win. Always.