Serpentine system

The serpentine system is a method employed in the organization of a competition to define the seeded teams and arrange them in pools. The n ranked teams that will be involved in the tournament are distributed in m pools according to the following algorithm:
Pool 1	Pool 2	. . . 	Pool m − 1	Pool m
1 	2 	. . . 	m − 1 	m
2m 	2m − 1	. . . 	m + 2 	m + 1
2m + 1	2m + 2	. . . 	3m − 1 	3m
... 	 	 	  	 
For instance, 12 teams would be organized in four-team pools, according to the serpentine system, as follows:
Pool 1	Pool 2	Pool 3
1 	2 	3
6 	5 	4
7 	8 	9
12 	11 	10
To improve competitivity, this method is sometimes used in conjunction with the drawing of lots method: the serpentine system is used only for some of the teams involved in a competition ("seeds"); the rest is distributed in pools following a drawing of lots.
Category:Playoff Brackets