How Round Robin to Bracket works
Round Robin to Bracket formats run round robin pool play first, then seed a playoff bracket from the pool standings. There are three variants: Round Robin to Single Elimination, Round Robin to Double Elimination and Round Robin to Compass. The pool stage is the same for all three. Who makes the bracket, and where you find it, depends on the variant.
The three variants
You pick the variant as the division format when you create the event.
Format | Who makes the bracket | Bracket tab | Choices when you generate |
|---|---|---|---|
Round Robin to Single Elimination | You choose: Finals + Third Place Only, a number per pool, a total number, or all teams | KNOCKOUT | Who advances, Seed by Pool or Seed Overall, and the seed order |
Round Robin to Double Elimination | Every team that can still play, up to 32. The bracket has at least 8 slots, with byes filling the gaps | MAIN DRAW and CONSOLATION | Grand Final Format |
Round Robin to Compass | Every team that can still play, up to 16 | COMPASS | None |
All three variants support singles and doubles divisions. Every variant needs at least 2 teams that can still play.
Round Robin to Compass refuses to generate with more than 16 teams. For a bigger field, use Round Robin to Single Elimination or Round Robin to Double Elimination.
The two stages
Stage 1: pool play. Teams are split into pools and play a round robin inside their pool. When you choose Generate Matches, you set the Number of Pools and how many times teams meet: Play each opponent once, Play each opponent twice, or a fixed number of rounds. The Admin menu on the MATCHES tab also has Edit Groups, Add Rounds, Configure Courts and Clear Round.
Stage 2: the bracket. When pools are done, open the bracket tab for your variant, tap Admin and choose Generate Bracket. Pool results stay intact. The bracket is a separate set of matches.
We never generate the bracket automatically. In Round Robin to Single Elimination we warn you if pool matches are still unscored, but you can go ahead anyway. The seeding then reflects incomplete standings.
How seeding works
Teams are ranked by the pool standings, using the division's standings sort. The default is Wins, then Head-to-Head, then Point Differential.
Round Robin to Single Elimination: when you pick a total number of teams or all teams and there is more than one pool, you choose Seed by Pool (recommended), which spreads each pool through the bracket so pool-mates do not meet in round 1, or Seed Overall, which merges every pool into one ranking so the top seed plays the bottom seed. With any option except Finals + Third Place Only, you then see the seed list and can drag teams to reorder it before the bracket is built. Once a bracket exists, Edit Seeds in the Admin menu changes it until a bracket match is completed.
Round Robin to Double Elimination: all pools are merged into one ranking and every team is seeded into the main draw.
Round Robin to Compass: all teams are seeded into the compass brackets. See How Compass brackets work.
Grand Final Format (Double Elimination only)
When you generate a Round Robin to Double Elimination bracket, you choose what the consolation champion can win:
Consolation winner can win the event: a Grand Final is played between the main draw and consolation champions.
Consolation winner can only get 3rd place: the main draw final decides 1st and 2nd, and no Grand Final is created.
Rebuilding the bracket
Clearing the bracket removes only bracket matches. Pool scores and standings are untouched, so you can generate again. See Clear and regenerate the bracket.
A playoff after Standard Round Robin (Set Partners)
Standard Round Robin (Set Partners) also has a KNOCKOUT tab with the same Generate Bracket choices as Round Robin to Single Elimination. Choose a Round Robin to Bracket format when the bracket is the point of the event, or when you want double elimination or compass.