An embodiment of the invention includes a Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) that includes a group of TCAM block. Each TCAM block stores a number of match entries. Each TCAM block is ranked in priority order. The TCAM also includes a group of TCAM headpointers. There is a TCAM headpointer coupled to each TCAM block. The TCAM headpointer indicates the highest priority match in the group of match entries in a TCAM block. The match entries within a TCAM block are prioritized in circular priority order starting from the highest priority match.