A method for processing packet lookups is provided. Packets (which each have a body and a header) are received and parsed to parsing headers. A hash function is applied to each header, and each hashed header is compared with a plurality of binary rules stored within a primary table (406), where each binary rule is a binary version of at least one ternary rule from a first set of ternary rules. For each match failure with the plurality of rules, a secondary table (408) is searched using the header associated with each match failure, where the secondary table (408) includes a second set of ternary rules.
