New TO with a few questions

[Griff]

• How do you determine how many pools to run, people per pool, and how many people move on per pool
• How do you determine Bracket size
• Thinking about using TioPro, would you recommend something else (and why)? I found doing a mock pools very easy, but the bracket was sort of hard to navigate and hard to tell where you were at on both sides.

 

[PlanFive]

• How do you determine how many pools to run, people per pool, and how many people move on per pool
• How do you determine Bracket size

That really depends on the amount of time you have, the number of setups and the number of people are playing. I would recommend to have an even number of pools so that brackets will be easier to make (2,4,8 pools are the best, 6 is ok,)

• Thinking about using TioPro, would you recommend something else (and why)? I found doing a mock pools very easy, but the bracket was sort of hard to navigate and hard to tell where you were at on both sides.

If you have an internet connection, Challonge auto-feeds the tops from pools into a bracket for you

 

[Griff]

That really depends on the amount of time you have, the number of setups and the number of people are playing. I would recommend to have an even number of pools so that brackets will be easier to make (2,4,8 pools are the best, 6 is ok,)

So you don't know of any guidelines for the amount of pools or players moving on from pools to bracket? For example, with 40 entrants how many pools / what bracket size would you use.

 

[PlanFive]

So you don't know of any guidelines for the amount of pools or players moving on from pools to bracket? For example, with 40 entrants how many pools / what bracket size would you use.

In your position, I would run 8 pools of 5 entrants and depending on time either the top 1 from each pool would form a 8-man bracket or the top 2 from pool would form a 16-man bracket. That is the reason why pools of 4 or 8 entrants are better, because its easier to form a bracket with no byes.

http://smashboards.com/threads/tournament-mechanics-a-primer.124132/ is a very good link to calculate how long your tournament goes. I dont know if your event will be all day or just an evening, so I didnt want to suggest anything too detailed