How do I count my EVs?

Question

I recently began playing through Pokémon Ruby for the Gameboy and have been EV training the members of my party. I have maxed out the speed stats of both my Combusken and Mightyena but am unsure whether or not defeating pokémon that award speed EV stats will count towards my 510 EV total. Here's an example to help clarify my situation:

Defeating a wild Zigzagoon awards a pokémon with 1 speed EV stat. My Mightyena's speed EV stat has been maxed out. Will defeating a wild Zigzagoon award me with a speed EV that could have been allotted to another EV, such as attack or HP?

Thanks!

Answer 1

In Generation 3, stats can have up to 255 EVs. So maxing a stat does waste 3 EVs.
source

Answer 2

If you max out a stat and then defeat a Pokémon that gives EVs in that stat, those new EVs are thrown out and have no effect on your EV total. As sumwun mentioned, though, the cap per stat is 255, even though the most that can be used is 252, wasting 3 EVs. If you’re new to EV training, I wouldn’t worry too much about it; if you max out 2 stats to 255, you’re only missing out on 6 EVs (2 of which will always be unused), which really isn’t enough to matter much at all.