Pre-empts can be fun for bidders and hellish for opponents. Here’s perhaps the most satisfying interference bid I’ve seen. In an OK Bridge game I played with Paul Laliberte, East -West were vulnerable and South was dealing:

                              NORTH (Kaplan)
                             ♠️ 4
                             ♥️ J 8 7 6
                             ♦️ 9 6 5
                             ♣️ K J 9 7 3

WEST                                                           EAST
♠️ A 5 2                                                       ♠️ 9 8 6
♥️ Q 10 5                                                     ♥️ A K 4
♦️ Q J 10                                                     ♦️ A K 7 4 3
♣️ A Q 5 2                                                   ♣️ 8 4

                            SOUTH (Laliberte)
                           ♠️ K Q J 10 7 3
                           ♥️ 9 3 2
                           ♦️ 8 2
                           ♣️ 10 6

The bidding proceeded as follows:

South         West         North        East
2♠️             All Pass

Opening lead: ♦️Q

We went down three for -150, a terrific result that won us 5.16 international matchpoints (imps), because other East-West pairs played in 3NT and socked North-South for -630.
West might have overcalled 2NT (and been raised to 3NT), but with no running suit and unfavorable vulnerability, the pass was understandable. What’s important is that South’s pre-empt got into West’s head and ruined what might have been a simple 1NT-3NT auction for our opponents.

Not that we’re never the victims. The following day we were sitting North-South, with West dealing and North-South vulnerable:

                             NORTH (Laliberte)
                            ♠️ Q 10
                            ♥️ A K Q 3
                            ♦️ A Q 5
                            ♣️ J 9 8 2

WEST                                             EAST
♠️ A 9 5 4 3 2                                ♠️ J 8 6
♥️ 6                                               ♥️ 7 4
♦️ J 10 9 8 3                                  ♦️ 7 4 2
♣️ 4                                               ♣️ 10 7 6 5 3

                             SOUTH (Kaplan)
                            ♠️ K 7
                            ♥️ J 10 9 8 5 2
                            ♦️ K 6
                            ♣️ A K Q

The bidding proceeded as follows:

West         North           East          South
2♠️           DBL             Pass          4♥️
All Pass

Opening lead: ♦️J

We gnashed our teeth while taking all the tricks for +720, earning -4.74 imps in the process. We’d been victimized by West’s pre-empt.

Now, making a weak two bid with that crummy ace-sixth of spades was not for everyone. But as Eddie Kantar advises his readers, when the temptation to pre-empt invades your mind, go for it.

Here’s how we’d have bid with no pre-empt to complicate things:

West         North         East         South
Pass          1♦️             Pass        1♥️
Pass          3♥️             Pass       4NT
Pass          5♦️•           Pass        6♥️
All Pass

• Shows three of the five “key cards” (four aces, ♥️K)

PS: East might have really messed us up by raising to 3♠️!