Double-Elimination Brackets
By AlphaZealot | Published: May 19, 2008 9:17pm EST
 A double-elimination tournament allows players to lose twice (usually two best-of-three sets) before being eliminated. This setup is likely the most common type of tournament format run for video games throughout the country, across any medium. Double elimination allows for more accuracy in results than single elimination. Double-elimination brackets are usually divided into two parts. The Winners Bracket (or Upper Bracket) is the location for all the players who have not yet accumulated a loss. The Losers Bracket (or Lower Bracket) is where all players who have one loss reside. Players are sent from the Winners Bracket to the Losers Bracket after they receive their first loss and if they lose in the Losers Bracket they exit the tournament. In double-elimination tournaments the tournament host should attempt to reduce the chance of double jeopardy, that is, the chance a person may face the same person twice. To avoid this, there are a few solutions. First, players should be sent to the Losers Bracket in a way that reduces the chance of running into someone they have already faced. The math is slightly complicated for this notion and most bracket software programs will be able to do this for you. Second, in the event two players meet a second time, which is bound to happen in the later rounds of the tournament, then this situation can be solved in a few different ways. -If it occurs during the quarter-finals or earlier, two players can be swapped to avoid double jeopardy. -If two players cannot be swapped, then either a second set is played or a continuation set will occur. If a continuation set occurs, then the number of matches won from the previous set (Winners Bracket) carries over. If player X won 2-1 against player Y in the Winners Bracket, then player X must win two more matches in the Losers Bracket against this same player, for a total of four matches to secure his victory. Player Y must win three more matches to accomplish the same task. The final remaining player in the Winners Bracket must wait for the final remaining player in the Losers Bracket. The player in the Loser’s Bracket must defeat the player in the Winners Bracket in two sets, assuming there is no continuation rule. The player in the Winners Bracket must only defeat the player in the Losers Bracket in one set. Players at most tournaments will likely be randomly seeded into the bracket, the same as in single elimination. If a tournament holds divisional play before brackets, which is common at large tournaments for more accurate results, then players will be seeded into the bracket based on their performance in pools. All double-elimination brackets need to run in powers of two: 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, and so on. If your tournament has fewer than the next highest power of two, then simply assign byes to some players in the first round to fill out the rest of the bracket. |
