Nice post. I think that balance is overrated in general. It should almost never be the reason you make a specific play, except in the rare cases when you think two plays have equal EV. Balance is too often a crutch we use to avoid evaluating our decisions deeply enough. "I raised that amount b/c it's my standard, I didn't minraise b/c I would never do that with a bluff, I flatted with AA to keep my range wide and balanced" etc. The truth is that there is a best play in almost every situation and only in rare ones when you're playing against someone who you expect to play lots of hands with in the future AND you know is a good, observant, thinking player should you worry about balance. Granted, this is more often the case playing HU than 6max or FR, but hopefully you're game selecting well enough to avoid the second condition.