TourBracketFree Tournament Bracket Generator

6 Team Single Elimination Bracket

Six is not a power of two, so the bracket is drawn at eight slots and the two empty ones become byes. The top two seeds skip the opening round and enter at the semi-finals, which is the standard way to handle a field of six and the reason seeding matters here more than it does at four or eight.

The effect is that seeds 1 and 2 play one fewer match than everyone else. If that feels unfair for a casual event, shuffle the seeds so the byes fall at random, or run six as a round robin where everybody plays five.

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How the draw is structured

6

Entrants

6

Matches played

4

Rounds

2

Byes

Round by round

RoundMatchesEntrants left after it
Quarter-Finals24
Semi-Finals22
Grand Final11
3rd Place11

Opening round by seed

Seeds are paired so the strongest and weakest meet first, which keeps the top seeds in opposite halves of the draw. This is the order the board is drawn in, top to bottom.

Why there are 2 byes

A knockout bracket has to halve cleanly every round, so it is built at the next power of two above the field. 6 entrants are drawn into a 8 slot bracket, which leaves 2 slots empty. Those go to the top seeds, so seeds 1 and 2 sit out the opening round and enter in round two. If you would rather the byes fell at random, shuffle the seeds before generating.

How long it takes

Rounds run one after another, because a round cannot start until the one feeding it has finished. Matches inside a round can all run at once, so the number of courts you have decides the day more than the number of entrants does.

Courts10 min matches20 min matches30 min matches
11h2h3h
240m1h 20m2h
440m1h 20m2h

Playing time only. Add changeovers, warm-ups and the gap between rounds.

Questions

Who gets the byes in a 6 team bracket?
Seeds 1 and 2. An eight slot bracket has two empty places, and they are awarded to the top seeds, who then enter at the semi-final stage.
How many matches does a 6 team bracket have?
Five, or six with a third place play-off. Every match but the last knocks one team out, so five matches take six teams down to one.

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