A single elimination tournament is where players are eliminated each round after only playing one round at a time. It consists of a number of players that can be divided by 4, equally into even numbers. Think of a tournament with 64 or 32 or even 16 players that has multiple rounds. The number of players participating has to be divided by 4 for an equal number of even players in each round.
A good example of this bracket is the NCAA basketball tournament that happens every March. The tournament consists of 64 players and the tournament has six rounds. This is the easy version of the tournament.
A single elimination tournament is designed for a large number of players. Anything over 24 participants. Brackets can be chosen by the players drawing numbers to determine their place in the brackets or if this a regional tournament where the players are determined by winners of local tournaments and a point system that would place the participants in certain spots within the brackets.
