diff --git a/html2text/__init__.py b/html2text/__init__.py
index 9054388..fdd59bb 100644
--- a/html2text/__init__.py
+++ b/html2text/__init__.py
@@ -689,7 +689,7 @@ def link_url(self: HTML2Text, link: str, title: str = "") -> None:
                             self.o("</" + config.TABLE_MARKER_FOR_PAD + ">")
                             self.o("  \n")
                 if tag in ["td", "th"] and start:
-                    if self.split_next_td:
+                    if self.split_next_td or self.table_start:
                         self.o("| ")
                     self.split_next_td = True
 
diff --git a/test/test_html2text.py b/test/test_html2text.py
index f57cb6b..4bebf23 100644
--- a/test/test_html2text.py
+++ b/test/test_html2text.py
@@ -236,3 +236,12 @@ def _skip_certain_tags(h2t, tag, attrs, start):
         "some <i>italics</i> too."
     )
     assert ret == "this is a txt and this is a with text and some _italics_ too.\n\n"
+
+
+def test_table_empty_first_cell():
+    h = html2text.HTML2Text()
+    ret = h.handle(
+        "<table><tr><th></th><th>b</th></tr>"
+        "<tr><td>c</td><td>d</td></tr></table>"
+    ).strip().replace(" ", "")
+    assert ret == "||b\n---|---\nc|d"