Selt began the 2011–12 season ranked 43rd meaning he would have to win two qualifying matches to reach the ranking event main draws. He did this at the first ranking event of the season: the Australian Goldfields Open by beating Adrian Gunnell and Ricky Walden.&lt;ref name="2011/12"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; In the last 32 he played reigning world champion John Higgins and pulled off the biggest result of his career to date by overcoming a deficit of 1–4, to triumph 5–4 and win a televised match for the first time. He then beat Stephen Hendry 5–1 to earn himself his first ranking event quarter-final, where he lost 3–5 to Shaun Murphy.