How to Form a Playoff Bracket

A playoff bracket is essential in any single or double elimination tournament. This applies to everything from the NCAA basketball tournament to an office pool. Drawing up a playoff bracket is a simple matter. Seeding the bracket properly is a bit more challenging. Follow these steps to learn how to form a playoff bracket.

Instructions

1. Decide how many teams will be in the playoff bracket. This will determine the size of your bracket. A bracket works best when you have an even number of competitors in these quantities: four, eight, 16, 32 or 64. If you have an uneven number of competitors some of them will get first round byes.

2. Decide whether the bracket will be single or double elimination. A single elimination tournament removes a team when they lose a match. In a double elimination bracket you must lose twice to be removed. After the first loss a team is moved to the loser's bracket. If the team keeps winning they can make it all the way to the championship game and win the tournament even though they have a loss.

3. Let your computer create your bracket for you. There are many websites that will make you a bracket. All you do is tell them how many competitors there are and whether you want a single or double elimination format. If you want your bracket to come from two sides with the final two competitors meeting in the middle, create two brackets with half your competitors in each. Print out your custom made playoff bracket and you are ready to begin. There is a link to a bracket creation website below.

4. Seed your bracket. When some competitors deserve an advantage in your playoff bracket you must assign them a seed number. This can happen because of better regular season performance, previous victories or a higher ranking. The number one seed is the top rated competitor. Place that name on the top line of the bracket. Write the second seed on the top line of the pairing on the very bottom of your bracket. Now find the middle of your bracket and place the third seed on the top line of the lower half. Place the fourth seed on the top line of the bottom pairing of the top half. Repeat this with the next available seed meeting the lowest available seed.

5. Consider reseeding your bracket after every round. Some playoff brackets play straight through with the winner, regardless of seed, advancing to the next round on the line next to them. However, when seeding is important in a playoff bracket you can reseed after every round. The highest remaining seed is matched with the lowest remaining seed in their bracket. This shuffles the competitors around when a lower seed defeats a higher seed in an upset.

Resources

• Source for a bracket creator
• Press the Point
• Fired