4th Seat Pre-Empts

So what does it mean to you when you or your partner open a weak 2 bid in 4th seat after 3 passes? Does it really mean you have less than an opening bid, and if you do, why not pass the hand out? Who are you pre-empting in pass out seat.

I have always thought that a 2 bid in 4th seat, assuming you are playing normal weak 2’s, is something along the lines of an ACOL 2 bid, an intermediate hand with a good 6-7 card suit, and no other 4 card suit.

Playing on BBO last night with an inexperienced player, I held, All Vul, K9 AKJT873 J QT7 and heard it go 3 passes to me. Thinking this was the perfect way to describe my hand, I opened 2H and it went all Pass.

Partner put down Axx xxx KTxx Axx and on a Club lead, there were an easy 11 tricks available when the K was on my right. Partner stated he thought I would still have a weak hand, even though it was IMPS scoring, so passed to try and get a plus.

I thought afterwards that perhaps I should have opened 1H, but I assumed this treatment was fairly standard. Guess I was wrong, and need to talk about it with a partner more before I throw it out. But it kind of follows the philosophy of all balancing situations, where a jump in a suit shows a good suit within the confines of previous bidding.

What would you and your regular partner assume a 2H call was after 3 passes?