The top 10 celebrity poker faces of 2019 revealed

From Donald Trump to Beyoncé, it’s been a year of highs, lows, controversy and scandal in the celebrity world and with help from body language expert, The Face Whisperer, (Adrianne Carter) we’ve revealed our top 10 poker faces of 2019….but what exactly is a poker face? We asked The Face Whisperer to give us her official definition:

“A true poker face reveals nothing about what the person is internally feeling or thinking, their face is in a neutral position and there are no muscle movements detectable.  It’s very rare that we see a true poker face when we are internally stirred up as it’s hard to keep a ‘straight face’, it practically always leaks through the face and the body language as you will see below.”

Here we count down the top 10 2019 poker faces from the world of sport, entertainment, politics and technology:

10. Caitlyn jenner

Leaving the jungle – Friday 6th December 

Scenario: After a three-week stint in the jungle during the recent series of I’m a Celeb, Caitlyn Jenner was voted out and made her big exit across the bridge to find no family waiting for her on the other side, which is usually tradition for the show. This forced her to put on a brave face, but did she do a good job of hiding her disappointment?

The Face Whisperer says: ‘This is a prototypical face of sadness –  eyes downcast with loss of focus in the eye gaze and downturned lips. Sometimes we self soothe when we feel sad, which is what Caitlyn is displaying with her hand touching her head.  Self-soothing is a gesture we do to calm our inner feelings. No awards for a poker face.

9. Sebastian Vettel

Vettel Loses to Hamilton – Thursday 29^th June

Scenario: Sebastian Vettel was left upset after facing defeat by Lewis Hamilton due to time penalties against him during the Canadian GP, despite finishing first. Appeals to reconsider the penalties were rejected adding more salt to the wounds for Vettel. But what did his face tell us on the podium?

The Face Whisperer says: Sebastian Vettel has his lips pressed together, one of the key components of a typical face of anger.  This anger is also mixed with sadness, the downcast eyes give this away. It’s not surprising he has the mixture of emotion given the situation.  Anger is felt when we feel we are being thwarted and sadness is felt due to loss.

8. Richard Madden

James Bond rumours – Sunday 27^th January

Scenario: After great speculation around the upcoming successor of Daniel Craig for the role of 007, the media and public turned their eyes to Richard Madden as a favourite, being quizzed frequently in a range of TV interviews. Could Richard hide his excitement about the role?

The Face Whisperer says: On close inspection of his face, it looks like he smelt something off.  The constant questioning about the James Bond rumours are not fun anymore by the look on his face. His face is showing the emotion of dislike/ disgust.  When we don’t like something, we have an involuntarily wrinkling of the nose, which we can see in this image.  No poker face here.

7. Pep Guardiola

Manchester City loss reaction – Sunday 10^th November

Scenario: After a devastating defeat to Liverpool FC in the title race, Guardiola had a very surprising reaction as he hid any disappointment with praise and positivity towards the referee.  But was he telling the truth or was it a bluff?

The Face Whisperer says: Definitely bluff! He is not only trying to hide his true feelings, but he’s also trying to make people think he feels differently, however his face is revealing more than what he’s trying to portray.  This is a fake smile – there is no bunching up of the cheek muscles and lips are stretched across and not turned up, which we would see in a genuine smile.

6. Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s Wall – Tuesday 8^th January 

 Scenario: After many delays, Donald Trump doubled down on the biggest gamble of his Presidency and tall promise that led his 2016 campaign. To bring his Mexican border wall to reality, he claimed the issue to be a ‘humanitarian crisis’ to utilise a loophole in American law to secure his funding. Was this a last-ditch attempt to make this a reality and exploit the system, or was he telling the truth?

The Face Whisperer says: ‘The top half of the face reveals emotion… The bulging muscles underneath both eyes are associated with the happiness emotion – this could be joy at getting his gamble through or ‘dupers delight’ which means, ‘I know something you don’t know…’

 ….we couldn’t reveal all of our top 10 to you in one go, so check back on Monday where we’ll reveal our best celebrity poker face of 2019!

“A true poker face reveals nothing about what the person is internally feeling or thinking, their face is in a neutral position and there are no muscle movements detectable.  It’s very rare that we see a true poker face when we are internally stirred up as it’s hard to keep a ‘straight face’, it practically always leaks through the face and the body language as you will see below.”

 

“To have a true poker face you need to aim for expressionless – not as easy as it sounds when you are winning or losing in a game of poker and tensions are high.  Most people make the mistake of setting their face in what they think is a poker face, but they just end up looking constipated or angry and not expressionless.”

 

Here are 5 steps for the best poker face:

1. • Become aware of your own face when you are winning or losing, your face will feel differently in each state
   • Practice feeling blank – it’ll help you recognise how your face feels when you are developing your best expressionless poker face
   • Don’t set your face rigid – this turns into a look of anger
   • Relax your facial muscles and think of something that raises no emotion in you
   • Don’t fake an emotion you don’t feel (to bluff the other players) – research has shown the general public can reliably detect an emotion that’s faked 7/10 times

Still not confident in the power of your poker face? You can avoid a poker face disaster with GrosvenorCasino.com’s live poker games, allowing players to join live poker games from anywhere in the UK. Find out more at: https://www.grosvenorcasinos.com/live-casino 

Picture sources:

• https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/tv/im-celebrity-fans-threaten-boycott-17380745
• https://www.foxsports.com.au/motorsport/formula-one/f1-2019-news-sebastian-vettel-penalty-canadian-grand-prix-martin-brundle-column-on-mercedes-lewis-hamilton-daniel-ricciardo/news-story/0098eaf222f1458ec5363173f62078ac
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiWtfmMk-cs
• https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/full-transcript-livid-pep-guardiola-20855760
• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/09/donald-trumps-border-wall-speech-in-full

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