# Bracket eliminations **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bracket-eliminations/280092 "2004-12-16T04:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bracket-eliminations/280092/1 "2004-12-16T04:22:18Z")
We have all seen the elimination brackets they use for the NCAA playoffs. Brackets are easy to layout for eliminations where the number of contestants is a power of 2. Is there a standard way of laying out brackets if the number of contestants is NOT a power of 2? ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bracket-eliminations/280092/2 "2004-12-16T04:33:10Z")
I’m not familiar with the NCAA custom, but tennis does have a standard way of doing it. They usually have lucky losers in larger tournaments rather than byes. When byes are required, then they are assigned in a specific way – working from the extremes and work toward the middle so that higher seeds get the byes. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bracket-eliminations/280092/3 "2004-12-16T04:57:42Z")
There are a bunch of websites that can help you make brackets for tournaments of just about any size. Here’s one: [http://www.bracketmaker.com/](http://www.bracketmaker.com/) But you can also buy software that prints up fancy charts and such.