What you can do to make it easier is pivot your camera around when he faces you; i.e. look at your character's face. That way you always dodge relatively to your right or left. Otherwise, you simply have to memorize the patterns.
Larboard/Starboard -> Larboard/Starboard = Dodge right, then left
Starboard/ -> Larboard = Dodge left, stay put
Larboard -> Starboard = Dodge right, stay put