Triple Elimination - Full Format Walkthrough
Triple elimination adds a third bracket on top of double elimination, giving every team three chances before they're knocked out. This format works for singles or doubles. In singles, each team is one player. In doubles, each team is a two-player pair.
How the format works
Triple elimination uses three brackets:
Main Draw (Winners Bracket) – All teams start here with 0 losses.
Consolation (Losers Bracket) – Teams that lost once in the Main Draw.
Last Chance – Teams that lost once in Consolation (2 total losses). Lose here and you're out for good.
How teams move between brackets
Lose in the Main Draw → drop to Consolation.
Lose in Consolation → drop to Last Chance.
Lose in Last Chance → eliminated (3 losses total).
Championship flow
The end of the tournament plays out through multiple potential finals:
Game 1 (Championship) – The Winners Bracket champion (undefeated) faces the Consolation Bracket winner (1 loss). If the Winners Bracket team wins, they're the Tournament Champion.
Game 2 (only if needed) – If the Consolation winner beats the Winners Bracket champion in Game 1, a second game is played since the Winners Bracket team has only lost once. The winner of Game 2 is the champion.
Last Chance Super Final – The championship loser drops to face the Last Chance Bracket winner. This determines the final placements beyond the champion.
Add players or teams
Before generating the bracket, your event needs players or teams registered.
If Using CourtReserve
Players sync automatically from CourtReserve registrations. To refresh manually:
Go to your event
Open the Players tab
Click the sync button to pull the latest registrations
For detailed syncing steps, see Sync players into an event.
If Not Using CourtReserve
Add players or teams manually or import from a spreadsheet:
Go to your event
Open the Players tab
Click + Add Players to add manually, or import from a spreadsheet
For doubles events, players register as pairs. For singles events, each player registers individually.
Generate the bracket
Generate the bracket after your teams are set.
Open the bracket view for the division.
Tap the Admin button.
Select Generate Bracket.
What happens during generation
The system fetches all teams and creates seeded matchups using DUPR ratings if available, otherwise random placement.
Automatically pads to the nearest bracket size (4, 8, 16, or 32) with BYEs.
Generates all three brackets and wires up the progression paths between them.
No extra options are needed — everything is auto-generated.
For more detail on seed order and byes, see How seeding and byes work in bracket formats.
What you see after generation
Three tabs appear at the top:
MAIN DRAW – The winners bracket.
CONSOLATION – The losers bracket (1 loss).
LAST CHANCE – The third bracket (2 losses).
There's also a Full View toggle that stacks all three brackets vertically on one screen so you can see the entire tournament at once.
How triple elimination differs from double elimination
Aspect | Double Elimination | Triple Elimination |
|---|---|---|
Brackets | 2 (Winners + Losers) | 3 (Winners + Consolation + Last Chance) |
Losses to be eliminated | 2 | 3 |
Total matches | Fewer | ~50% more matches |
Tabs | 2 (Main Draw + Consolation) | 3 (Main Draw + Consolation + Last Chance) |
Best for | Competitive events with moderate time | Events with more time that want maximum fairness |
Score a match
Tap any match card to open the score dialog. Enter set scores for each team. The system automatically determines the winner and advances them to the next match in the correct bracket.
The winner advances to the next match in the current bracket.
A Main Draw loss sends that team to Consolation.
A Consolation loss sends that team to Last Chance.
A Last Chance loss eliminates that team.
You do not need to move teams manually.
For more detail on score entry and validation, see Scoring bracket matches.
Walkovers and forfeits
From the score dialog, you can declare a walkover and select which team wins. The match is marked with an orange Forfeit badge, and the winning team advances automatically. No scores need to be entered.
Swap teams
Admins see a pencil icon on each team slot in the bracket. Tapping it opens a substitution dialog that shows the current team and a list of all available replacement teams (with player names and seed info). Select a new team and they're swapped into that bracket slot.
This is useful for correcting seeding errors or handling last-minute team changes. Only admins can use this — non-admins see an error message if they try.
Assign courts
Each match card has a status badge that doubles as a court action button:
Badge | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
Assign Court (dark blue) | No court assigned yet. Tap to pick from available courts. | Tap to select an available court |
Upcoming (blue) | Court is assigned but the match isn't live. | Tap to make it live or change the court. |
LIVE (red) | Match is in progress. | Tap to manage (unassign court, set back to upcoming, etc.). |
Completed (gray) | Match is done. | No action available. |
Courts currently occupied by live matches are shown as unavailable. When you set a match to Live, a push notification is automatically sent to the players: "Your Match is Live! Your match has been called to Court [#]."
For more detail on configuring and managing courts, see Court management in bracket formats.
Auto-assign courts
From the admin menu, toggle Auto-Assign Courts on or off. You can also pick which round to start auto-assigning from. When enabled, the system automatically assigns available courts to matches as they become ready.
Clear the bracket
Clearing the bracket is irreversible. All bracket matches, scores, and court assignments will be deleted.
Open the admin menu.
Tap Clear Knockout Bracket.
A red warning dialog confirms:
ALL bracket matches will be deleted
ALL scores and results will be lost
ALL court assignments will be cleared
This cannot be undone
Confirm by tapping DELETE ENTIRE BRACKET.
After clearing, you can regenerate a new bracket from scratch.
Print the bracket
Tap the print icon (web only) and choose between:
Bracket View – Prints the full tournament bracket tree as displayed on screen.
Individual Match Cards – Prints scorecards with configurable settings.
View the bracket
On mobile
Rounds are shown as swipeable pages. Tap the round pills at the top to jump to a specific round. Pull down to refresh.
On web
The full bracket tree is displayed horizontally with connector lines between rounds. Scroll left/right to see all rounds. Use the Full View toggle to stack all three brackets vertically on one screen.
What's next
See Generating a triple elimination bracket for more details on the generation process.
Compare with Double Elimination and Single Elimination formats.
For help with other bracket operations, see Editing bracket matches.