Home Game Pot Limit Hand

Hi, played pot limit hold'em with some friends for the first time yesterday, using 5&10 cent blinds, 3-handed. A hand came up that was interesting (to us, anyway), and I wanted to hear what others had to say about it.


I was in the small blind, and the button straddled (for 20 cents). The button had about $12 in front of him, and I had around $7. I had just folded 4 or 5 hands in a row, so I decided to try to steal against his straddle. I had 42s and raised it to $.70, the big blind called, and the button called, $2.10 in the pot.


The flop came Q33, with none of my suit. I knew that they would call my raise before the flop, so my plan with the steal had been to immediately bet the pot, regardless of the flop. So I bet $2.10, and the button calls, $6.30 in the pot. The turn is a Q. With my steal having been called down, and with only around $4 in front of me, I decided it was time to give up the bluff, so I checked, and the button checked behind me. The river was another 3 putting a full house on board, I checked, and the button bet the pot. I called all-in and lost to his queens full.


So what did I do wrong here? Should I not be attempting to steal pots on the flop when I have nothing? Should I have bet on the turn or the river? Should I have folded on the river? Or did I play the hand well and just ran into a situation where I had to shake my head and get over it?


Thanks,


Lenny