Counting pot size by bet in B&M games- Pro Advice Requested

[511 Peas]

Happy Friday, all.

OK, so after coming to depend on the crutch that is a digital readout of the pot size on Absolute and Bodog for the past couple years, I went down to the old Native American Casino to play some 4/8 limit with my favourite octogenarians and fishies.

What's the best (or default/standard, if applicable) way to count pots by bets in a live game?

Is it

A. Don't count bets as they happen pre-flop- just count the number of players and then figure-in any/all pf raises and which blinds are playing? Then count the action as it occurs.

B. Start out at 1.5 (the blinds) and then just add bets as the action dictates?

C. Just pay attention to the actions of others, and estimate (or count roughly) the pot size when a close or critcal decision presents itself?

D. None of the above, and I'm a stupid, stupid, noob regarding live play [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I found myself trying different methods, but oft found that while my pot count was right-on, I was allowing myself to become ignorant of other critcal analytical thoughts while playing my game, such as watching others and thinking as deeply as possible about the implications of my sepecific holdings and the board.

Is there a standard line for how it's done? How would Sklansky do it?

Thanks in advance to all for their respective time in reading and responding to my post.