KaLa
NEWS KaLa • Honolulu Community College, University of Hawai‘i
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November 2010
POKER: Plans already underway for next event Continued from Page 1
hour early. And the tournament wasn’t to begin until an hour after that. On a gusty Friday morning at Honolulu Community College, 37 students tried their hand at winning the HCC Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament to benefit the Hawaii Food Bank. The prize of a brand new Sony PlayStation 3 was enough to get these hopeful HCC students out of bed and into the ASUH-HCC sponsored tournament. Players were assigned to one of six tournament tables to start. The last player standing from each of the six tables went on to play at the final table. Players were constantly reminded what was at stake with the grand prize sitting only feet away. Some players had more experience than others. Student Mary Burgess
Thirty-seven players competed for the title of HCC's first poker champion. The last player standing from each of the original six tables went on to play at the final table.
explained she had “never been in this type of tournament. Either way I was just trying to have fun and relax.” Hours of bluffs and raises eliminated player after player. Not all was lost however, as each
player left with a Hawaii Food Bank T-shirt for their troubles. Hand after hand was dealt with the anxiety and anticipation building with each elimination. Finally, after more than six hours of play, the final hand was dealt.
Nick Jamorabon outlasted the competition in route to his victory. Jamorabon rode a streak of hot hands during the final table to edge out the competition. The Sony PS3 and the recognition were all his.
The tournament received high praise from all the participants. Tournament organizers surveyed each player and were thrilled to see interest across the board for a similar event in the spring 2011 semester. Kam has some high hopes for the future. “I want to see 50 HCC students playing," he said. "Then maybe a community college battle with all the champions from each school playing against each other.” Perhaps the next poker champ is sitting among you in class. Only time will tell who will take the crown next time. However, the importance of this moment would not be lost on the newly crowned champion: “It’s awesome to play with some pretty good players and win. But it’s pretty cool to see all the food that everyone donated for the needy," Jamorabon said.
HCC wins two out of three in fall debate tournament By Jennifer Kakio Ka La staff writer
Five brave HCC students stood together against 35 other students from University of Hawaii-Manoa and Hawaii Pacific University at this semester’s UH-Manoa Debate Tournament. HCC was the only fully staffed team from a community college. “I felt there was no division between us, the community college, and the university students. They are very welcoming and glad we are here,” said HCC debater Deja Coloma. During the tournament, the students tackled difficult topics like whether the death penalty should be abolished, whether Islamophobia is a greater threat to the U.S. than terrorism, and whether dolphins, porpoises, and higher primates should have the same rights as human children. In the debate on the death
The HCC debate team drew praise from competitors at this year's fall tournament in Manoa. penalty, the HCC Team 1 went up against UH-Manoa Team 3. Although both teams presented well, UH Team 3 presented its side with much sarcasm and mudslinging by referring to the HCC Team 1 as Team Intolerance. This name-calling did not faze HCC Team 1, and the
judges were very impressed by that. “Good job to the HCC team... I felt that your team kept your composure very well [after being called Team Intolerance],” said Judge Rose Helens-Hart from HPU. The judges felt that this debate was a very close one, but they gave
the win to team UH. Their second debate, on the rights of dolphins, porpoises and higher primates, was arguably the most interesting one of the day. This time HCC Team 1 went up against an all-girl team called HPU 4. All the students in attendance agreed that this topic was their toughest. “Our position [proposition] was easier [to prove] than the opposition. We actually extensively studied [this topic]” said HCC’s middle speaker Ryan Adverderada This debate went by fast, and was highly entertaining. All the judges agreed that HCC Team 1 deserved the win. “It feels redeeming [after losing the first debate],” said HCC’s whip speaker Howard Kam. In the final debate, on the fear of Islam religion in the U.S., HCC Team 1 went up against the Swing team. The Swing team had 2 HPU students and
1 UH-Manoa student. “The Islamophobia debate was great because it showed me how cohesive we became from the first debate till then,” Coloma said. In the end, HCC won this round, which made them 2-1. “I’m happy we won. We definitely could have done better and that comes with practice,” Adverderada said. Overall, HCC did a very good job. In the end, HCC earned fifth place out of 11 teams. HCC is gearing up for HPU’s Island Debating Invitational on Dec. 4. The debate team welcomes any student who would like to join the team. “Feel free to sit in the debate meetings. There is no experience needed to join the team,” said team’s faculty advisor Douglas Raphael. If you would like more information, feel free to contact Raphael at draphael@hawaii. edu.