[smoore]

OIC Wooderson, I get what you're visualizing now.

Look at the button. Know where it is at all times. Know who's supposed to post the blind before they do. Know how much the bet is at all times, before the caller does. Know how much is in the pot (approx.) at all times. Basically, just pay attention. I used to do the same thing and since I started actually paying attention I'm doing much better. Now I've gotten to the point where I can carry on a conversation and do all this crap without batting an eye. It's like someone learning how to multitable online... very confusing and stressful at first but it becomes second nature with practice. MUCH more important to keep track of the pot in NL than in limit, you can just count back mentally in limit if you have to. Anytime you ask for a pot count observant players will put you on a draw.

Another skill I've actively developed is pot/stack estimation. I take my chips and throw a bunch in a pile then give myself 30 seconds to estimate it... I count afterwards to see how close I was. I'm hitting them dead on about 30% of the time now compared to <10% when I started this excersize. I will do the same thing with chipstacks of non standard heights, I'll just throw out stacks of whatever to four or five positions and give each one a 10sec glance. I write it down and go onto the next, then I check at the end to see if I was close. I'm better at estimating stacks than pots so I only do 10sec each to push myself.