Selby, who beat Ricky Walden in the 2010 final, beat the Israeli teenager 5-1 in his first round-robin match at the Montien Riverside Hotel in Bangkok.
Also in Group A are Selby’s fellow Englishman Joe Perry - who beat Andy Lee of Hong Kong 5-0 - and Wales’ Dominic Dale, who beat Ruberg 5-4.
Walden, meanwhile, got off to an inauspicious start as the world number two suffered a 5-3 Group G defeat to local hope Noppon Saengkham.
Day one round-robin results:
Morning session: Group D Stephen Maguire 0-5 Hossein Ayouri Group A Joe Perry 5-0 Andy Lee Group B Judd Trump 2-5 Barry Hawkins Group G Marcus Campbell 5-0 Krzysztof Wrobel Group F Saleh Mohammad 4-5 Passakorn Suwannawat Group B Mohamed Khairy 1-5 Rodney Goggins Group C Peter Ebdon 3-5 Ken Doherty Group C Li Hang 4-5 Aditya Mehta
Lunchtime session: Group E Shaun Murphy 4-5 Andrew Higginson Group B Nick Jennings 2-5 Issara Kachaiwong Group H Martin Gould 5-2 Panompai Powises Group D Mohammed Ibrahim 2-5 James Wattana Group F Stephen Lee 5-3 Jimmy White Group E Ben Nunan 4-5 Pankaj Advani Group G Tom Ford 5-1 Noppon Saengkham Group H Lee Walker 5-4 Zhang Anda
Mid-afternoon session: Group E Steve Davis 1-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Group B Barry Hawkins 3-5 Rodney Goggins Group F Ben Judge 3-5 Passakorn Suwannwat Group D Mark Davis 5-3 Darren Morgan Group A Mark Selby 5-1 Shachar Ruberg Group C Li Hang 1-5 Ken Doherty Group G Matthew Stevens 5-3 Marcus Campbell Group A Andy Lee 0-5 Dechewat Poomjaeng
Late afternoon session: Group C Aditya Mehta 5-4 Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon Group H Martin Gould 5-4 Zhang Anda Group D Hossein Ayouri 5-1 Mohammed Ibrahim Group H Lee Walker 5-4 Marco Fu Group E Shaun Murphy 5-0 Ben Nunan Group F Jimmy White 3-5 Saleh Mohammad Group H Graeme Dott 4-5 Panompai Powises Group B Nick Jennings 5-3 Mohamed Khairy
Evening session: Group B Judd Trump 5-1 Issara Kachaiwong Group C Mark Williams 5-1 Peter Ebdon Group G Ricky Walden 3-5 Noppon Saengkham Group F Stuart Bingham 5-1 Ben Judge Group D Mark Davis 5-4 James Wattana Group A Dominic Dale 5-4 Shachar Ruberg Group D Stephen Maguire 3-5 Darren Morgan Group G Tom Ford 5-3 Krzysztof Wrobel
