Decision apparatus includes a first memory bank, containing a first table of hash composition factors, and a second memory bank, containing second and third tables of associative entries. A logic pipeline receives a sequence of data items and extracts a search key from each data item. A pre-hash circuit computes a first index by applying a first hash function to the search key. A first lookup circuit reads a hash composition factor from a location in the first memory bank indicated by the first index, and a hash circuit compute second and third indices as different combinations, determined by the hash composition factor, of second and third hash functions applied by the hash circuit to the search key. A second lookup circuit reads the entries in the second and third tables that are indicated respectively by the second and third indices.