
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. Johnson's ninth-grade class wants to participate in the annual three-person-team basketball tournament. Before the main sixteen team tournament, there is a preliminary round where four teams compete to fill the last two spots in the sixteen team bracket. The losing team of each game is eliminated from the tournament. How many games will be played in total to determine the winner, starting from the preliminary round?

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