I know that you know that I know that you know that I know

It all started with a raise to 16k from the cut off @ 4k/8k/1ka with Q8o.

Of the 3 in front of me I know I already have a dynamic with the solid aggro player on the button who had already 3bet called off 77 earlier vs my 4 bet shove. In poetic fashion my 4 bet shove contained 44 and I hit the 2 across on the 4th card. Villian was not happy and instantly high carded for dealer. Understandable. The small blind is terrible so I'm hoping to get heads up with him as I will destroy him postflop. The Big Blind knows the good reg to my right, so is probably at least competent. But I have position if I can get through the button

I'm starting to gather some momentum in this tournament and want to take full control of this table with the bubble fast approaching so I'm trying to put the foot down and hoover up chips. I have around 400k with around 35 players left down from 389. And then it happens.

From a 500k stack the button makes it 38k.

A lot of players hate playing poker where they are put in spots, preferring just to wait for big pairs or to make big hands instead of grasping the game for what it is; a pure form of mental warfare. As some one who gets off on mental warfare his raise heightens my senses straight away.

"Is he playing back at me for opening what is obviously a wide range?"
"Whats his 3 bet range here?"
"I've already seen him 3 bet 77 so his value range is wider that I thought initially, so he probably can't continue vs a 4 bet unless hes willing to put in his stack"
"What do I do if he flats the 4bet? He's already 4 bet shoved AA so probably won't flat here to induce action."

For a few months I totally tamed my game down, played more solid, stopped playing back vs 3bets with air and trying to just crush the fish. Given we were the 2 biggest stacks on the table I'm on the fence about how to continue. Now I know it looks like I'm trying to steal the blinds considering I've opened the past 3 times it's folded to me. I know what it looks like. The dealer miscounts his raise and he sternly says

"No it's 20k more"

I already know what to do.

I grab 3 orange chips and make it 93k total to go.

Now I could click it back and get into something of a leveling war, but this raise was more than just a 4 bet. This raise was to let not only him know I mean business, it means I won't be 3 bet at will and if you want these chips you better be able to put your chips on the line when you raise me. This is my table. This is MY TOURNAMENT. This raise was a metaphor for a giant FU and everyone else at this table was going to understand this. I was in the fuckin zone and wanted to crush this table so hard that luck was going to play little part in me getting every chip in the room. My raise leverages most of his stack because he can't put in half of my effective stack and fold. I'm already confident I've won this hand and with it some table respect.

But just as well as I read my opponent he made the final read. He asks how much I have, states a number I can't mind and instead of just doing nothing I motion my hand upwards. I didn't even know how much I had left, I just wanted my stack to contain more girth than my words could backup at this point. A live tell if ever there was one. Maybe he picked up on it, maybe he just knew I was full of shit as much as I knew he was playing poker just as much as me here.

"All in"

Sigh.

I insta muck as tanking here is ridiculous. We should never be 4 betting for value to fold here, so our range has already been polarised, and villian already knows this. Everyone knows you're at it when you eventually fold anyway and you'll not save any face.

Villian tables 67suited. I let out a murmur of a laugh, say nice hand whilst retreating back to the intellectual war room that contains the thoughts within my head to repair whats left of my soul.