Selbst and Sylvia met on day 6 of the main event when they played at the same table. Soon after, Selbst was knocked out and Sylvia was one of only nine players left vying for the first place prize of $8.5 million. Selbst believes Sylvia picked her as his final table mentor because of their similar styles of play, her coaching experience, and her extensive short-handed poker experience (the majority of online games, where Selbst honed her game, are played with six or fewer players), which would be valuable as the number of players at the table shrank from 9 to 1.

Selbst's impressive poker resume was also likely a factor in Sylvia's choice. Only 28 years old, she has cashed in 45 major poker events, earned ten first-place finishes, and collected two WSOP bracelets (which are given for winning a WSOP event). She is also the second most successful female tournament poker player in history with $5.579 million in winnings.

Selbst achieved these enviable results by being arguably the most aggressive player in the game today. These video clips illustrate just how gutsy and brazen she is. Similarities between Sylvia and Selbst became apparent at the 2012 main event in the sixth hand of ten-handed play, when Sylvia tried to use his gigantic stack of chips to push four opponents out of a pot with just an unsuited 10-5 in his hand. That play was contrary to the 'play tight early and put yourself in a position to get lucky in later rounds' approach that used to be considered the optimal way to win poker tournaments.

Selbst was an early adopter of a relentlessly attacking, boom-and-bust style that is now popular among many top tournament poker professionals, including Michael Mizrachi, who has played in twelve WSOP final tables and won three WSOP bracelets. "You pretty much never see [Mizrachi's] name near the bottom of the chip counts. If he is still in the tournament, he's the chip leader," Selbst said, in what could also qualify as a good description of her own tournament performances.

Selbst's results in 2006 provide a good example of the dramatic ups and downs associated with her way of playing. During that year, Selbst cashed in two WSOP events but also became famous for bluffing away all her chips, crash-and-burn style, during her first ESPN-televised final table. With 5-2, she got into a raising war against a player with pocket aces. On the surface, the play looked self-destructive and reckless, but Selbst still believes the innovative play is defensible, based on the situation and her opponent, even if it didn't play so well on TV.

Time has shown this hand to be a turning point in poker. Before the hand, poker fans knew that Internet players thought differently about the game, but Selbst showed us all just how different the internet approach was. "Because of that [hand], for a long time, everyone thought I was just some dumb aggressive monkey who had no idea how to play poker. It turns out they were only half-right!" Selbst said.