
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
Let $b_1, b_2, \ldots$ be a sequence determined by the rule $b_n= \frac{b_{n-1}}{2}$ if $b_{n-1}$ is even and $b_n=3b_{n-1}+1$ if $b_{n-1}$ is odd. For how many positive integers $b_1 \le 1000$ is it true that $b_1$ is less than each of $b_2$, $b_3$, and $b_4$?

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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