Kill Phil in Cash Games

[ephemeral]

Generally speaking, in loose games (and at least 3 players calling an early all-in as you describe qualifies as loose) it pays to hit your draws as cheaply as possible and to overplay your big hands. In such a case, you'd probably be better served to just call the flop and try to hit the straight on the turn and look to get paid off big-time. If I had a set, however, and they play that loose, I'd ship it in on the flop. A set in this spot is about a 67% favorite to win over AA, 45, and Ah 9h, the three callers I presume you had in mind, combined.

In major tournaments with lots of chips, play is rarely anywhere near this loose though, fold equity is higher, and it's more difficult to get big hands paid off if you massively overbet them.

Regards,

Lee