How single elimination brackets work
Single elimination is the simplest bracket: lose once and you are out. The bracket halves each round until one team is left.
How it works
Every match eliminates one side. A 16-team bracket runs 4 rounds (round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, final), and each round has half the matches of the one before.
Because there is no second chance, a team's event can end in its first match. If you want teams to survive an early loss, use double elimination or Compass instead.
Seeding
You confirm the seed order in the Seeding dialog when you generate the bracket. It opens sorted by DUPR rating (highest first) when any team has a rating, and you drag teams to adjust. The app then places seeds so the strongest are kept apart: the top seed meets the lowest, the second seed meets the second-lowest, and the two best seeds can only meet in the final.
This differs from the pool-play formats, where seeding comes automatically from pool standings.
Byes
The draw is always a power of two: 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on. When you have fewer teams than the draw size, the empty slots are filled with byes.
Byes go to the top seeds, so the strongest teams skip the opening round and join at their first real match. A bye is never scored. The team advances automatically.
For the placement rules in detail, see How seeding and byes work in bracket formats.
Third-place match
A bronze match is created when the bracket has two real semifinals, and the two semifinal losers are placed into it automatically.
If a semifinal contains a bye, no bronze match is created. Scoring the bronze match is optional and never blocks the final.
Where single elimination is used
Single Elimination: a standalone bracket. You confirm the seed order in the Seeding dialog and there is no group stage.
Round Robin to Single Elimination: pool play first, then the bracket seeds from pool standings. See How Round Robin to Bracket works.
Both use the same single elimination rules. In Round Robin to Single Elimination the seeds come from pool standings, and the app may swap bracket slots so two teams from the same pool don't meet right after their byes.