All three of these hands should be played the same way. ALWAYS RAISE. Any other action should be considered, "varying your play." In most cases calling/raising two bets is appropriate. You should definitely consider folding A-K or Q-Q, (if you promoted queens,) when the raiser is a solid player. A smooth call is seldom, correct, and probably should not be considered if there are several limpers already; or players yet to act, (maybe from the button or small blind, if there is only the raiser in the pot.)
The reasoning is quite simple. If the flop does not hit you, you really don't want anyone to call your continuation bet on the flop. Why not bet before the flop and prevent your opponents from hitting the flop and putting you on a 22:1 draw to improve your pair, or worse, if you hold A-K. So NEVER slow play your top hands. Bet 'em out.
Good Starting Hands in Hold 'em.
These are those other hands we like to play or, in many instances, hate to play: Q-Q, J-J, 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, A-Q, A-J. Many of these hands are often the best hand, but they are definitely not as strong as the Top Hands. Of course A-K should be here too, but the EV consideration puts it in the "Top" category. The real difference between these hands and the first group is relatively simple. With these hands we should be reluctant to call a raise from an early position player. In fact we should usually fold, unless we have a good read on the raiser. In tournament play a call/re-raise with these hands usually puts you in the pot behind, or at best a slight favorite in a race and subsequently on the rail.
Okay, we know that we don't really want to call a raise, but what if we are first in, or only have limpers in front. Then we can play these hands like they are top starting hands. From early position a raise is usually correct, but be prepared to abandon them to a re-raise. This helps disguise your top hands and often causes later players with slightly stronger hands to fold. In later position, no one has indicated strength and one of these hands definitely could be the best hand, and raising with the best hand is ALWAYS good. Again a re-raise by a later player, or worse a check-raise by an early limper indicates, "It is highly probable, that you are second best."
Situational Starting Hands
These hands are those hands that we would really like to see a cheap flop with: Small pairs, K-Q, Q-J, A-xs, and suited connectors, down to about 8-7s. (Personally I'm not a fan of the lower suited connectors.) We should rarely play these hands from early position at all, but from late position they can often be profitable, and occasionally warrant a raise, in the interest of varying our play. Although you should rarely call a raise with these hands, sometimes you might call a raise, if you are sure it won't be re-raised, in the hopes of catching a big flop and busting the raiser. When calling a raise you should ALWAYS avoid the high hands in this group, K-Q, A-10, etc. These hands are easily dominated even when they hit the flop. If you call a raise, with these situational starting hands, you want a hand that hits hard without improving your opponents' hand or one easy to muck when it misses.
Marginal Starting Hands
Well this doesn't include the rest of the cards but it might be close. With these hands you NEVER call a raise. These are those highly speculative hands that have some perceived strength, like J-10os, 10-9os, A-x, and suited cards. Not only do these cards require a significant bit of help, they can often become dominated when the flop hits your opponent too. These cards might be suitable for a steal from late position or the small blind when first into the pot.
Junk Starting Hands
This really is everything else and we should NEVER play these except from the Big Blind in an un-raised pot.
Okay, this article wasn't about starting hands as much as it was about those "qualifiers" we looked at in the last article. It doesn't mean this information doesn't apply. It just illustrates how necessary these qualifiers are to discuss poker because of its situational nature. In poker any action might be right in the proper situation. And ALWAYS tip the dealer, and NEVER throw your cards at them.
Good Luck
jb
*Don't forget, you can hone your tournament skills by downloading one of the poker sites offered by PokerWorks.*