139 person have signed for an elimination tournament. All players are to be paired up for the first round but because 139 is an odd number one player gets a bye, which promotes him to the second round without actually playing in the first round. The pairing continues on the next round with a bye to any player left over. If the schedule is planned, so that a minimum number of matches is required to determine the champion, the number of matches which must be played is ?

• A. 136
• B. 137
• C. 138
• D. 139