In Bridge, Does It Make Sense to Pre-empt in Fourth Seat?
I've always understood the general rule to be: open with a weaker hand than usual in third seat, but with a stronger hand than usual in fourth seat.  As such, no, it seems like probably a bad idea to pre-empt in the fourth seat, for a couple of reasons.


It seems to miss the point of pre-empting entirely.  Usually, a pre-emptive bid is meant to deprive the opponents of bidding space, in a semi-sacrificial (or possibly fully sacrificial!) way.  If the opponents have shown no interest in bidding... what do you think you're doing?
If you're not pre-empting to get in the opponents' way... what ARE you doing?  Your partner has passed and thus has about 10-11 points at best.  What contract are you hoping to make with  about, or slightly less than, half the points of the deal?


Having said that - it could be a good idea to bid on a pre-empt hand in fourth if, for instance, you had 90 points below the line in a game of rubber bridge.  But make sure you are doing it for the right reason.  If your partner has a dogmatic belief that pre-empt hands require a pre-empt bid, without any seeming understanding of what a pre-empt is for, then perhaps he needs to be send back to Bridge school for a refresher course!