This reminds me of a situation when I first started playing blackjack. I dont know what we were doing, but I think we were practicing. The subject came up that the average hand value for the player or dealer was over 18(18.5 iirc) and you would be a loser if you as the player started with 18 every time. I said. I think I'm willing to take that bet, Set me an 18 each time and play the dealer's hand as you would normally. My thinking was the fact that I was eliminating ever busting "going first". The betting commenced and I was cleaning up. My friend/partner said he needed to stop and revisit this situation.