Bracket formats overview
Bracket formats use seeded matchups to move players or teams through a knockout bracket. Use this article to understand double elimination, triple elimination, and Compass, plus where playoff brackets fit after pool play.
Double-elimination brackets
In double elimination, a team must lose twice before it is out. Winners stay in the winners bracket. Teams with one loss drop to the losers bracket and still have a path back to the final.
This format gives teams a second chance and is a better fit when you want more matches or a fuller final placement picture. Read more in How double elimination brackets work and Generating a double elimination bracket.
Triple-elimination brackets
In triple elimination, a team must lose three times before it is out. This format adds another recovery path after a second loss, so teams get more total matches and more chances to keep advancing.
Use triple elimination when you want a fuller placement structure than double elimination and you have enough time and court capacity to support the extra rounds. For setup and bracket behavior, see How triple elimination brackets work and Generating a triple elimination bracket.
Compass
Compass is a playoff-style format that sends teams into different consolation paths after a loss. It is useful when you want teams to keep playing for placement instead of stopping after their first loss.
When Compass creates multiple bracket tabs, use the button to the right of the rightmost tab to remove the tabs and show all brackets in one scrollable view.
Seeding and byes
Seeding decides who plays whom first. Higher seeds are generally matched against lower seeds so the bracket is balanced. When the bracket size does not line up with the number of teams, byes advance some teams automatically to the next round.
Pool-play formats such as Round Robin to Single Elimination and Round Robin to Double Elimination use standings to seed the playoff bracket after group play ends. That is where How Standings Are Calculated becomes important.