Tracking at your regular venue is simple: one currency and a few numbers. Travel to a series and it becomes complicated. Buy-ins may be priced in dollars, food in local currency, and flights charged to a card in your home currency. Without a fixed method, all you will know on returning is that it "seemed like a lot".
Principle 1: log every amount in its original currency
Do not convert in your head at the venue and write down the result. Mental exchange rates differ every time and cannot be reconstructed later. Instead:
- Record costs and prizes in the currency the event was actually priced in.
- Record the currency code alongside (USD, JPY, KRW, HKD, PHP, VND and so on).
- Leave conversion for when you run the statistics.
That way the raw data is always correct. A rate can be fixed later, but how many dollars you actually paid is clearest at the moment you paid them.
Principle 2: pick one conversion method and keep it
There are three common ways to convert into your home currency:
| Method | How | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Actual exchange rate | The rate you really got when you changed money before leaving | Players who carry cash changed in one go |
| Rate on the day | Each event uses that day's reference rate | Longer trips, or anyone wanting maximum precision |
| One fixed rate per trip | A single rate for the whole trip | Short trips, or anyone wanting simplicity |
All three are fine and the differences are usually small. What matters is that costs and prizes within one trip use the same method. Convert costs at the pre-trip rate and prizes at the rate you got on the way home, and your result will have currency movement mixed into it, with no way to tell what came from the table.
A conversion example
Say you play a $550 event ($500 + $50) and cash for $1,400, and your home currency is euros at a fixed trip rate of $1 = €0.90 (an illustrative figure):
| Item | USD | EUR |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 550 | 495 |
| Prize | 1,400 | 1,260 |
| Net | 850 | 765 |
Notice that ROI is unaffected by the rate: 850 ÷ 550 and 765 ÷ 495 are both 154.5%. As long as costs and prizes share a rate, ratio metrics do not change.
Should currency gains and losses count?
If you buy foreign currency and change the remainder back afterwards, the rate movement in between creates a gain or loss. Record it as its own line, not inside any event. It is a financial outcome of the trip, but it has nothing to do with how you played.
Recording travel expenses
Expenses on a poker trip often exceed the buy-ins, so they deserve proper tracking. Useful categories:
- Transport: flights, airport transfers, local travel.
- Accommodation: hotel or short-term rental.
- Food: one daily total is enough. You do not need every meal.
- Other: visas, insurance, mobile data, baggage fees.
These stay out of ROI, which only looks at table costs, but they belong in the overall result of the trip.
The result of a whole trip
Trip result = All prizes − All event costs − Travel expenses ± Currency gain or loss
A five-day trip with six events might look like this:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cost of six events | −$3,000 |
| Total prizes | +$4,100 |
| Net at the table | +$1,100 |
| Flights and accommodation | −$880 |
| Food and local transport | −$300 |
| Trip result | −$80 |
ROI at the table is about 37%, which is excellent, yet the trip as a whole is a small loss. Both numbers are true and they answer different questions: "how did I play?" and "was this trip worth it financially?". Keeping them apart is what lets you judge honestly whether to go again.
A few practical habits
- Create a trip tag before you leave and attach every event and expense to it, so totalling up afterwards is easy.
- Photograph receipts, especially registration receipts, which show the exact amount and currency.
- Spend two minutes each evening logging that day's expenses rather than reconstructing them at home.
- For card payments, use the home-currency amount on your statement, since that is what you actually paid, foreign transaction fees included.
The principles of bankroll management apply to trips as well: the total you plan to put into a trip's events should be only a small part of your bankroll.