Dumb question but very important one, here goes: When displaying “Polycount” in Maya, it gives results in Vertices, Edges, Tris, and UV’s. Which one do I go by? I’m hoping its vertices 
It’s neither 
I already answered almost the same question here (and further below for a related issue).
The short answer is that for the graphics card unique vertices is what matters. Each vertex in 3D application might end up being multiple vertices, if it has multiple normals, or multiple UVs, or multiple colors etc.
thanks, I think I get it now.