My general rule is that I rarely, if ever, fold TPTK/Overpairs unless the board is extremely coordinated or there are other circumstances involved. If they flop a set/2 pair, they are going to stack me. (Note: This only applies to online tournaments with buy-ins less than $20.)

8 handed with blinds of 30/60 and I have [Qc] UTG. I raise to 180 (1930 left). UTG+1 calls (3300 left). BB calls (975 left). Pot is 570. I've played with UTG+1 a few times and he has a habit of calling a lot PFR's, but usually won't go much further unless he has something.

Flop is [4c][4s]
BB checks, I bet 480, UTG+1 just calls.

Again I have to play big buyin/small buyin with myself. Let's assume this was a large buy-in tournament and everyone is pretty competant here. What could a good player be calling me with that hits this flop? AK is a fold after the flop. AA or KK re-raise me preflop. AJ is an easy fold to an UTG raise. There are NO draws on this board. It has to be JJ. A smaller PP is a slight possibility, but they're probably folding the flop. Now I have to slow down and see what he does on the turn. I hate my position in this hand as well.

Turn is

If I check the turn and he moves all-in I probably have to call him since I would imagine top full would try to extract more money from me rather than just push. If he bets about half my stack, I probably have to fold an over-pair to the board.

Now let's get back to reality. This is a low buy-in tournament. Like I said, opponent calls a lot of PFR's, but will fold when he misses. Problem is, most players here don't consider 2 OC's or a pocket pair with only 1 OC on board as a miss. Now his range is AK-AJ, JJ-55, even A4s or KJ. (I'm discounting quads in any size buy-in because I'm gonna lose a lot of money there either way.) Even though the back of my mind is still screaming set, he's getting all my money if that is the case because it's much more likely he has a different hand and I can't give him cheap outs to 2 pair or better.

It turned out that he did have JJ and I was gone. Does anyone agree that I am we are more likely to lose all our money with this hand in a low buy-in tournament than I would have been in a higher buy-in tournament?

What's "high buyin"? I see a lot of donks who will call raises with AJ, KJ type hands and go for broke on a J-high flop in bigger events too. It's pretty difficult to get away from an overpair in an online tournament without explicit knowledge of your opponent and how they play, or without a scary board being present, IMO.

FWIW i'm never folding QQ there in your position; i'm betting the turn too. Too many players just want to hand you their chips with 99 or QJ there, and although they would be perfectly content to check it down with those holdings, they're going to call you down anyway.