Steven Albini has had quite the career as both a musician and a producer – not only has he performed in bands like Shellac and Big Black but he has also served as a recording engineer for a number of other bands including Pixies and Nirvana. Now, the 55-year-old Chicago native can add a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet to his unique portfolio.
Despite having just recently returned from a European tour with Shellac, one of the bands he performs with, the iconic producer bested a field of 310 entries and emerged victorious at the 2018 WSOP $1,500 seven card stud event walking away with a whopping $105,629. This he achieved by overcoming a stacked table that included a number of poker pros like two-time bracelet winner Frankie O’Dell as well as Jeffrey Lisandro and Chris Ferguson, both of whom are six-time bracelet winners.
In an interview with WSOP reporters after his huge win, Albini had quite a number of people to thanks for his success. One of these people was Brandon Shack-Harris, a two-time bracelet winner who Albini said contributed immensely to him getting to the winner’s circle:
“I owe him an awful lot for my development as a player. I owe a lot of it to my peer group… all the people that I play with all the time in Chicago, they’re all friendly people who are open with their knowledge. I also owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my wife, Heather. There was a lot of complicated stuff going on at home and she was gracious enough to say it would be okay if I came out here for this. I really appreciate her indulging me in my… hobby.”
On top of the money and the bracelet that he received, Albini was also awarded 480 Card Player of the Year points for winning the seven card stud event. While this win was his first final table finish this year, it did help him move up to the 670th position in the 2018 Player of Year rankings.
“I am ecstatic that a player as mediocre as me can outlast all of these better players and end up with a bracelet. There’s still hope for everybody! … This year the stud event occurred simultaneously with the Seniors Event, and simultaneously with the $50K [Poker Players Championship, both of which included many talented seven-card stud players]. So the field for the stud tournament, I think, was kind of historically weak, which allowed a sucker like me to make it to the final table. With some prescient coaching from my friends and a good run of cards – I ran pretty fucking good as well. I hit a lot of hands early in the final table,” Albini added when he spoke to the WSOP reporters.