Bracket Fill Modes

Tournament Doctor offers two bracket fill strategies to control how entries are distributed across bracket instances.

Fewer Refunds (Default)

This mode creates a mix of 7-person and 8-person brackets to use as many entries as possible. For example, 15 entries would create one 8-person bracket and one 7-person bracket, with zero refunds.

Best for: Most tournaments. Maximizes the number of brackets and minimizes refunds.

Full Brackets Only

This mode creates only 8-person brackets. If entries don't divide evenly by 8, the leftover entries receive refunds. For example, 15 entries would create one 8-person bracket with 7 entries refunded.

Best for: Events that require strictly even brackets for payout consistency.

Choosing Your Mode

In tournament setup under Bracket Settings, select your preferred fill mode. You can change this at any time before running brackets.

Pro Tip

Combine "Fewer Refunds" mode with Bracket Rollover for the absolute minimum number of refunds. Leftover entries from 7-person brackets can roll into other brackets that need them.