There is a school of thought that suggests missing the first half hour is fine. I have done this on purpose with no ill effects. The first half hour is usually the kind of poker none of us like anyway.
I remember often sitting at whole tables with nothing but zombies. I learned to play fast at those tables. At one
party poker tourney early '06 I had more than one table cleaned out by the first break. Never saw a live player till after the break. I played by the sound that it was my turn to act, and had the pointer over the raise button. Didn't even watch most of the
hands.
What I learned most was to watch a new table and figure out who is there and who isn't. It presents a unique online opportunity to gain an advantage.
I remember getting into a $10 heads up game at a small site, with slow to fill up games. I watched the lobby and saw that this one game had not started in like 15 minutes. I joined, turned out the guy was watching football, and waiting, and before he knew it, I had stolen all his blinds but one, which of course he had to play, but was there explaining and bitching, and I had the goods.
Don't be so quick to condemn the sit outs, they are easier money than most fish!
