Direct Playoffs

Direct Playoffs turn the final ranking of a qualifying stage into one match per pair of places: first against second for place 1, third against fourth for place 3, and so on. Every participant plays exactly one more match, and every place is decided on the table. Use it when there is time for one more round but not for a bracket, for example at a DTFB Challenger with eight or fewer participants, where the round robin is followed by playoffs.

Entry types: Single, Doubles, Team Name.

How it works

1. The ranking of the qualifying stage is taken as it stands. Neighbouring places play each other: Match for Place 1/2, Match for Place 3/4, Match for Place 5/6, and so on. The winner takes the better place.
2. With an odd number of participants, the last one keeps their place without a match, shown as a bye.
3. If the qualifying was played in groups, the groups are interleaved before pairing: the first of group A meets the first of group B for place 1, the second of A meets the second of B for place 3, and so on. With three groups A, B, C the order is A1, B1, C1, A2, B2, C2, which gives the matches A1 vs B1, C1 vs A2, B2 vs C2.
4. All matches are independent and can run at the same time on different tables.
5. The table shows the Stage Result: the final place after the playoff match.

Example with 7 teams after a round robin

Match	Pairing	Decides
Match for Place 1/2	1st vs 2nd	the winner
Match for Place 3/4	3rd vs 4th	third place
Match for Place 5/6	5th vs 6th	fifth place
Place 7 (Bye)	7th	stays seventh

Create Direct Playoffs

Direct Playoffs are not offered as the start mode of a discipline; they need a ranking to work with. Follow the steps under Elimination and pick Direct Playoffs as the Elimination Mode. There is no match for third place option, because third place is already one of the matches. As with every elimination, the match settings can differ from the qualifying stage.

Tip

For a DTFB Challenger with up to eight participants, play a round robin first and finish with Direct Playoffs. Every participant gets one last match, every place is played out, and the whole final round takes one match slot.

Next steps

For a full bracket instead of single matches see Elimination.