1. In a processing system having a hash table that is accessible to only one thread, the hash table having a plurality of locations each being identified by an index value and each adapted for storage of a stored entry therein, each stored entry comprising a stored key, a stored value, a stored hash value derived from a first operation on the stored key, and an indication that the location at which the stored entry is stored contains a valid stored entry, a previously deleted stored entry, or is currently empty, a method of performing a lookup operation of a stored entry having a matching lookup key, the method comprising: a) generating an index value from the lookup key using the first operation; b) selecting from the hash table one of the stored entries as a check entry, the check entry forming one of a sequence of one or more check entries; c) determining if the check entry is empty and returning a lookup failure result if the check entry is empty; d) if the check entry is not empty, comparing the lookup key with the stored key of the check entry only if the generated index value matches the stored hash value of the check entry; e) returning a lookup successful result with the check entry as a matching entry if the stored key and the lookup key are identical; and f) if the stored key and the lookup key are not identical, selecting from the hash table another stored entry as the check entry and repeating steps c)-f).