playBunny: Thanks for your gracious response ... so it's the top of each half against each other in the first round? That's not the way it should be done, of course -- first round pairings should be top vs bottom, second vs next to bottom and so on -- and the brackets should be arranged so that, if the higher ranked player wins each match, the same pattern will be followed in each round. For example, with 8 players, the pairings should be

First Round
1vs8
4vs5
2vs7
3vs6

Second Round
winner of 1vs8 vs winner of 4vs5
winner of 2vs7 vs winner of 3vs6