[Doc]

I think you more or less did the right thing muse - he played his AK terribly, unless he has X-ray vision. If you were on any kind of a draw he isn't going to make any more from the hand. As it is, he is giving you a chance to draw to a ten and beat him.

He may have read your raise pre-flop for a steal, in which case I think he should have re-raised. Instead he is putting himself out of position in an increasingly big pot against a hand he knows very little about with only ace-high!

In actual fact your raise isn't a steal, IMO. It is a solid value bet - you are up against 3 random hands, two of whom are out of position. Sure, you're not thrilled about a call - which is a good reason IMO to make the bet bigger - you'll have more info about anyone who plays with you.

So, you lost to a bigger Ace - that is tournament life. I think you did the right thing. You're not actually that big stacked at this stage - your chips are probably only enough to last you 5 or 6 goes round the table (maybe 4o or so hands I'm guessing). If you're going to get involved with AT then you have ask "what if I'm called?"
Top pair with a strong kicker against little show of strength is plenty justification to stay involved IMO. If you're going to play so cautious as to check it down once the flop comes if you're called, you're vulernable to any aggressive player. Remember that he is probably reading you for a steal. Many players would (perhaps correctly) make a move at the pot with a smaller pair (e.g. another jack) in those circumstances. If you're just going to check/call/fold, then you're going to end up folding the best hand a lot of the time.

You have to be decisive at this stage of a tournament - if you're going to get involved in a hand, most of the time you have to be ready to put most or all of your chips on the line. So get stuck into it, or stay away from the hand. To fall between is just to bleed to death.