Double elimination: a bracket where you need two losses to go out

How to read the bracket

The top half is the winners bracket, where everyone is still unbeaten. Losing a winners-bracket match does not eliminate you — you move down to the losers bracket. A second loss there means you are out. The winners of both brackets meet in the grand final.

If the losers-bracket finalist wins the grand final, both finalists now have one loss each. HoneyCup adds the deciding match — the bracket reset — and does not crown a champion too early.

Any number of participants

The bracket works for any field from 2 to 100, not only 8, 16 or 32. Empty spots are filled with byes: a player with a bye advances automatically, and empty bye-versus-bye matches in the losers bracket are hidden so the chart stays readable.

Places of eliminated players

Every eliminated player gets a final place right away, and it does not change as the tournament goes on. The later you lose in the losers bracket, the higher you finish. The standings show the podium and everyone else's place.

All-places mode

For table tennis and other sports where every place matters, the “Places” setting has an “All places” option. It turns on the double elimination system with full placement from the Russian table tennis rules: the winners bracket final decides 1st and 2nd, the losers bracket decides 3rd, and losers of each round play on for their own tier.

Final four: crossover semifinals

The third layout is for organizers who find a grand final with a reset too much. The winners bracket plays down to two unbeaten players, the losers bracket down to two survivors. These four play the semifinals, the final and, if you want, a third-place match.

The semifinals are crossed: a winners-bracket finalist meets a losers-bracket survivor from the opposite side. If a winners-bracket semifinal loser fights back through the losers bracket, the only place they can meet the player who beat them is the final.

In the final four any loss is final. There is no reset, so the match count is known in advance: 2n − 3 for n participants, plus one with the third-place match. The layout works from 5 participants.

You can change the layout until the first result is entered: after that it is locked so played matches are never rearranged.

How to start

1. Create a tournament and choose the “Double elimination” format.
2. Add participants — paste a list or add them one by one.
3. Press “Shuffle” for a random draw or set the seeding by hand.
4. Click a match to enter the score: winner and loser move to the right brackets automatically.