[the3rd]

Originally Posted by EasilyFound

My loosely-formed league wants to have a HU tourney. Pretty sure we could fill a 16 player tourney, but don't want to do a 32 player tourney. Anything in between requires that some players get a bye for the first round. Has anyone every played in a HU tourney with first-round byes? Seems very unfair to me to be one of the players without a first-round bye.

Yes. I wouldn't call it unfair because the way we did it was double elimination, but you will have people waiting around for their first match and if you don't get a bye, you have your work cut out for you. Get 16 committed players. We put the money in up front and still had no shows and multiple scheduling changes. Do single elimination for the first two rounds and double for the final two rounds. Otherwise it will either take too long or you'll need a structure that makes it a crap shoot. I'd rather play one good battle than two lightning rounds. If you make bye recipients pay extra, you might have some guys who would rather play for a discount, then you get headaches. If you can't get 16, do 8. It takes some of the drama away, but trust me, it beats an odd ball number of players.