Legendary rock music engineer, producer and poker enthusiast Steve Albini has passed away at the age of 61. A titan of the music industry, Albini, frontman for Big Black and The Shellac, engineered and produced seminal works of the rock industry, notably Surfer Rosa by Pixies and In Utero by Nirvana. A lover of poker throughout his adult life, Albini won WSOP bracelets in 2018 and 2022 to cement his place in poker history.

A Producer of Dreams

Having spent much of the 1980s behind the mic, Steve Albini fronted bands such as The Shellac and Big Black before lending his legendary skills to the productions of classic rock albums. Working with bands and artists such as Nirvana, Pixies and P.J. Harvey, Albini was a hugely respected musician and technician. His work added a mark of quality to the songs produced and everyone knew it.

Always preferring to be called an engineer to producer, Albini was a passionate defender of the analog generation, once being quoted as saying: “The future belongs to the analog loyalists. F*** digital.” Albini sought fairness in the music industry and was a massive critic of artists being exploited. A key cog in the music industry, he wanted the machine he was a part of to be a fair place to be.

About to tour once again with Shellac, Albini’s death from a heart attack at the young age of just 61 comes as a huge shock, both to staff at his Electronic Audio recording studios which he bought in 1995 and beyond.

“Anybody can play notes. There’s no trick,” Albini once declared. “What is a trick – and a good one – is to make a guitar do things that don’t sound like a guitar at all. The point here is stretching the boundaries.”

Steve Albini stretched the boundaries in the music industry. Whenever he didn’t, he was at the poker table.

Albini Wins First Bracelet

“I owe an awful lot of my own development as a player to my group of friends.”

A passionate home game and cash player in Chicago, Albini loved to play mixed games and in 2018, won his first World Series of Poker bracelet, winning the $105,629 top-prize when he beat Jeff Lisandro heads-up in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event in Las Vega as part of the 49^th annual WSOP.

“I’ve been playing stud my whole life. I love it, so I’m very comfortable playing stud. And I ran pretty f***ing good as well!” Albini said after the event.

Given some coaching from the sidelines by mixed game specialist Matt Ashton, Albini took care of Chris Ferguson late in the final, endearing himself further to fans who were livid at the presence of the former Full Tilt Poker  player.

Praising Brandon Shack-Harris, Eric Rodawig and Matt Grapenthien among others for sharing the felt with him back in Chicago, Albini’s carefree spirit and love for his home city was self-evident.

“Stud has been popular forever in Chicago,” he told PokerNews after the event in question. “It’s one of the places where people actively choose to play stud. I owe an awful lot of my own development as a player to my peer group, to my group of friends.”

Steve Albini had friends everywhere in poker and would arguably have played more in the following years but for COVID-19. A second bracelet win would have to wait… but it would come.

Albini’s Second Bracelet and an Endearing Legacy

“Everything in my life comes in pieces, in parts. Poker is one part of my life.”

Returning to the poker felt at the WSOP in 2022, Albini mopped up an even bigger top prize in Event #32, the $1,500 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event when he scooped $196,089. This time, a massive field of 773 players (more than double the 310 he topped in 2018) played the tournament.

Beating the Canadian player James Morgan heads-up to claim the crown, Albini was modest once again after becoming a multiple WSOP bracelet winner.

“When I’m playing poker, I try to commit to it,” he said. “I try to take it seriously. I try to make sure I devote the attention to it that it deserves as an occupation. But it’s only part of my year. I only play tournaments at the World Series of Poker. It’s a part of my livelihood, but it’s not my profession.”

Poker was an important part of Steve Albini’s life. As he once said, ‘Everything in my life comes in pieces, in parts. Poker is one part of my life’.

The game will mourn Albini’s death, and the popular player and commentator, Jamie Kerstetter, said: “Horrible news – condolences to his friends and family, and to his many poker friends.”

Jim Murray, a poker dealer, said: “What terrible news! Steve was such a great part of the poker and music communities. He will be missed.”

Mike Patrick was devastated by his loss, saying: “A legendary music producer and a helluva poker player with two bracelets in the last few years in stud and H.O.R.S.E. Condolences to his family and many friends in the music and poker worlds.”

Steve Albini criss-crossed between music and poker throughout the years. He produced sublime music and was a bona fide star at the poker felt too. His immense personality and incomparable achievements in both his beloved pursuits will endure.

The biggest tragedy is that we’ll never see him produce what would undoubtedly have been so much more, in both music and poker.

Everyone at PokerStake would like to offer Steve’s family and friends our deepest sympathies.

Headline photograph courtesy of PokerGO, the home of the 2024 WSOP. Featured 2018 photo courtesy of Jamie Thomson for WSOP.