RedStar has run on the iPoker network since 2005, and the network is the reason to consider it. As a standalone brand it would be a small room. As a skin on shared network traffic it plays like a much larger one.
That distinction is the single most useful thing to understand about this room, and it applies to any network skin you look at. You are not choosing a player pool when you pick RedStar. You are choosing a client and a cashier attached to a pool you would reach through any other iPoker room.
What network traffic means for you
On an independent room, the number of players online is the number of players that brand attracted. On a network skin, it is everyone across every room on that network sitting in one shared lobby.
The practical effect shows up at the edges of the day. A small independent room empties in the early morning and at low limits. A network skin stays playable, because the hours when your local players are asleep are covered by somebody else's. If you play at unusual times, this matters more than any bonus.
The trade is that you have no influence over pool composition, and neither does the room. Network policy on tracking, seating and security is set above the skin, so the room can compete on client quality and cashier and on very little else.
Who is sitting there
The crowd skews European, so the peak follows European evening hours. Outside them the network keeps tables running, but the character of the field changes, as it does everywhere.
iPoker pools have historically leaned towards recreational play at low and mid stakes, with the usual caveat that regulars know the peak hours as well as you do. The realistic expectation is a mixed field rather than either a soft one or a shark tank.
One thing worth watching in any network room: because several skins feed one lobby, the same opponents appear regardless of which room you sit in. If you move between iPoker skins looking for a softer game, you will find the same players. The only thing that changes is your cashier.
Games and formats
No limit hold'em, pot limit Omaha, six plus short deck, the Twister lottery sit and gos, Speed fast fold tables and a tournament schedule.
Twister is the network's three handed hyper turbo with a randomised prize multiplier. As with every format of this shape, the variance is severe, the correct play is push fold arithmetic tied to stack depth rather than postflop skill, and the bankroll requirement in buy-ins is several times what a cash player needs. Treat it as a separate game you would have to learn, not as a quick way to use spare time.
Speed is the fast fold pool: roughly triple the hands per hour, no table selection, and an edge that has to come from playing better rather than choosing better.
Software and money
Trackers are allowed, subject to network rules rather than the room's own. On a pool this size a database builds usefully on regulars over time, and tells you nothing about the recreational player passing through.
The client is a desktop product built for multi-tabling. That remains the clearest advantage a room holds over any phone based club, and it is not a small one if volume is how you make money.
Funds sit with the operator under its own licence and move through its payment queue. Methods and regional restrictions change often enough that publishing a list would mislead you within a month, so check the cashier for your own location. We do not print rakeback figures for rooms, since operators revise them several times a year.
One more consequence of sitting on a network. Promotions and loyalty schemes are usually set by the skin rather than the network, so they are the one lever a room like this can actually pull. That is worth knowing when you compare two iPoker rooms: the games will be identical, and the offer is the only real variable. Read the terms rather than the headline number.
Where a club seat beats this room
We are a club network, so verify the following rather than trusting it.
RedStar wins on the room fundamentals plus network coverage. A desktop client, real table counts, a licensed operator holding your balance, and a lobby that stays alive at hours when a small room would not. If you play at odd times on a desktop, that combination is genuinely useful.
A club wins on economics and control. What comes back to you is negotiated rather than published, and at limits where rake decides the win rate that gap is often wider than the technical edge you are working to build. Withdrawals move through an agent in minutes rather than a queue. And a union can act on a colluding pair in a day, where a network security process runs above the room and takes as long as it takes.
The honest position is that a network skin and a club solve different problems. The skin solves availability. The club solves economics and accountability.
Frequently asked questions
What network is RedStar on?
iPoker, since 2005. Traffic, tournament schedules and network policy are shared with every other room on it.
Is RedStar a small room?
As a brand, yes. As a seat, no, because the lobby is shared across the whole iPoker network rather than being that one room's players.
Does RedStar allow trackers?
Yes, subject to network rules rather than the room's own policy. A database builds on regulars over time and does little against passing recreational players.
Will I find softer games on a different iPoker room?
No. Every skin feeds the same lobby, so you meet the same opponents. Only the client and the cashier change.
What is Twister?
The network's three handed hyper turbo with a randomised prize multiplier. Very high variance, and closer to a push fold game than to the poker played at cash tables.
The short version: judge a skin on its cashier, its client and its offer, and judge the games on the network behind it. Those are two separate questions and mixing them is how players end up disappointed.
Who this room suits
Take RedStar if you want desktop volume at hours when small rooms empty, and you are comfortable that the pool is a network decision rather than a room one. Skip it if you were hoping that picking a smaller brand would mean a softer field, because it will not.
See the alternatives in our reviews of the classic rooms, or compare against the club apps we run. For which of our tables run at the hours you play, message @rpunion. Related: building a session routine that holds up and why tournament chips are not money.
18+. Play within your means.