This is true.. Always look at vert count.. Most of the time the vert count in-game will be 3x the tris of what you see in maya or max. Since most game-engines uses tris.
a few things that increase your vert count of an object in game: UV seams Smoothing Groups 2nd UV channels Mutiple Material IDs within the UV shell Lightmap channels Draw Calls (will this object be reflected?) Some complex shaders can increase them as well I never budget anything in tris anymore... or even in the 3D…