folding top pair with short stack

I was playing in a live torney today and this situation came up, could anyone get away from this hand ? being shortstacked seems weak to fold
blinds 2000-4000 ante 300 average stack 40k
btn 55k
sb 45k
bb 40k J4o
btn limps , sb completes blind bb checks
flop js 3d 2h
sb bets 8000 ?
can anyone fold top pair here or are they shoving ,
sb is unpredictable player overall hasnt played many hands but has been seen in showdown with some stange holdings like K7o and 57s etc

You're right, folding is too weak, but you don't have to shove. An out of position bet from a player who showed no interest in the hand pf is almost never a bluff. clearly he connected with the flop in some way. Since most bottom or middle pairs are going to check/call these flops, his most likely holding is some kind of Jx which probably beats your's. But that's not to say that he's not testing the water with a lower pair or some kind of a wheel draw. I know calling will cost you 20% of you're stack but in this case I think it's the right play. Float the flop and see what he does on the turn. If he bet's the turn then let it go. If he checks the turn and the river blanks i might even consider calling a small river bet.

interesting thinking there, If the stacks were bigger then I would exactly play it like you said , i actually went into the tank for some time with this one, my thinking at the time was either hes hit the flop hard two pair and trying to suck the two remaining players in , hes got AA ( little unlikely he probably would have mini raised at least to get some money in the pot pre flop) or hes hit either bottom or or mid pair and is testing the waters and is not quiet prepared to invest all his money. I Wouldnt you just shove with Jx win a nice pot and moove on ? So for me it was either fold or shove , the reason for this is because of fold equity , if we shove hes most probably folding the underpairs to the jack. If we float, what do we do if he just bets another 8k ? where getting great odds to call with top pair , and are back to square one , but this time we have less equity to showe as our oponent has now invested nearly half his stack. If we just float again on turn , then we are preety much pot comited on the river. What do you think about this?
Do you really think small / middle pair checking with the small stack to blinds ratio ? i would check call when stacks are deaper definetly , but when we are under such pressure from the blinds , the button and bb showed no interest pre flop , we hit flop why not make a little stab at the pot , if oponents dont hit the flop ( most of the time ) or dont hit a draw , then they are folding any bet here right?

Well you have to decide is it wrth risking your tournament life on. if you shove there you stlill have to worry about the btn and wat his actions are. i would attempt a min raise or something silly like that i disagree a bit with four dogs, on that board you are usually good there. he bet 2x the BB so he coupld be representing anything, however if you had like j8 or better i would assume its good and raise him to 20k or somet\hing and then see what he does. But hey at the same time your in the BB there is no shame in folding. but if your folding top pair to a blind battle then its usually a bad move most off the time.
Hope that helps ya next time!!
TTYL

both plays yours and four dogs seem perfectly fine if the stacks are deap , but in this case if we mini raise we are investing almost half our stack and shouldnt we have a plan for the turn ? if sb shoves then what ? and if we are usually good on that flop then we should take the pot down on the flop ?
thanks for your thoughts