Double Elimination Bracket Explained

What is a double elimination bracket?

A double elimination bracket is a knockout where you have to lose twice to be out. Your first loss does not send you home. It drops you to a second bracket, and only a second loss ends your night. The last player standing is the champion.

It is the most popular format for bar and pool room tournaments, because one bad roll of the balls does not finish anyone, and it still fits in one evening.

How a double elimination bracket works

The bracket has two sides. Most apps and charts call them the winners bracket and the losers bracket. In PoolHost they are called the Main bracket and Second chance, because that is how players think about them.

1. Everyone starts in the Main bracket. Round 1 pairs the whole field. Win and you stay in the Main bracket.
2. A first loss drops you to Second chance. The losers of round 1 play each other there. Players who lose later in the Main bracket drop into fixed spots further along the Second chance side.
3. A second loss knocks you out. In Second chance, every match is win or go home.
4. Each side crowns a finalist. The last unbeaten player wins the Main final. The last player left in Second chance wins the Second chance final.
5. The two finalists meet in the grand final. See the next section for the twist.

The grand final and the deciding match

The grand final is the Main bracket winner (no losses) against the Second chance winner (one loss).

• If the Main bracket player wins, it is over. The other player now has two losses.
• If the Second chance player wins, both players have exactly one loss. So they play one more match to decide it. This is often called the "if necessary" match or the bracket reset.

That extra match is what makes the format fair: nobody is knocked out of a double elimination event with only one loss. Tell your players before round 1 that it might happen, so the final does not end in a debate.

How many matches in a double elimination tournament?

Every player except the champion loses exactly twice, and every match produces one loss. So a double elimination bracket for N players has 2N minus 2 matches, plus 1 if the deciding match is needed.

Because every player needs two losses to go out, everyone plays at least two matches. A 16 player double elimination night is 7 rounds, or 8 if the deciding match is needed. For time per match and a rounds table for other sizes, see how to run a pool tournament.

Free passes when the numbers do not fit

A bracket works in sizes of 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. With any other number of players, the bracket is the next size up, and the empty spots become free passes (also called byes). With 12 players, the bracket is 16, so 4 players get a free pass into round 2.

• Spread the free passes out, so two free passes never meet each other.
• A free pass is not a win. It just means you start in round 2.
• If a player walks in late while round 1 is on, a free pass is the natural place to seat them. They play the player who had the free pass, and nobody else's match changes.

Double elimination vs single elimination

Single elimination is about twice as fast. Double elimination gives everyone more pool for their entry fee, which is why most weekly bar nights use it. If time is tight, keep double elimination and shorten the race instead. Our pool tournament ideas for bars has nights built around both formats.

Tips for running a double elimination night

• Number every match. Players find their next match much faster by number than by reading lines on a chart.
• Play the Second chance matches as soon as they are ready. That side has more matches, so letting it fall behind is what makes nights run late.
• Keep one race length. Race to 2 or 3 for everyone is easiest. If you want to balance skill, give weaker players a shorter race instead of changing the bracket.
• Agree the house rules first. Our bar pool rules guide lists the ones to settle before the first break.
• Settle prizes by place. In double elimination, 5th and 6th go out in the same round, so they share a place. The pool tournament payout guide shows the split.

Run a double elimination bracket on PoolHost

Drawing and updating a double elimination chart by hand is where most bar nights go wrong. A free pool tournament app like PoolHost does it for you:

• Double elimination is the default format. Players are drawn at random into a fixed bracket, with free passes spread out for you.
• Every match is numbered in play order and gets a table number. Main bracket matches show in blue and Second chance matches in yellow.
• Tap the winner, or keep a race-to score, and the bracket moves on by itself, including the deciding match only when it is needed.
• Players follow their own match on their phone, and their match card says what a loss means: "Lose and you drop to Second chance, so you are still in."
• The live bracket shows on the bar TV, and you can print it on A4 or A3, filled in or blank, as a backup for the wall.