
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
Ms. Hamilton's eighth-grade class has expanded its annual basketball tournament. This year, 25 teams are interested in participating, but the main tournament can only accommodate 16 teams. To qualify, there will be a preliminary single-game elimination round among 9 selected teams to reduce their number to 1. The winning team will join the other 16 originally selected teams to make it a total of 16 competing teams. Then, a traditional single-elimination tournament is held for these 16 teams. How many games in total will be played to determine the winner?

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