diff --git a/extensions/table.c b/extensions/table.c
index a5bb44067..f6637466d 100644
--- a/extensions/table.c
+++ b/extensions/table.c
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ static cmark_node *try_opening_table_header(cmark_syntax_extension *self,
   parent_string = cmark_node_get_string_content(parent_container);
   header_row = row_from_string(self, parser, (unsigned char *)parent_string,
                                (int)strlen(parent_string));
-  if (!header_row || header_row->n_columns != marker_row->n_columns) {
+  if (!header_row || header_row->n_columns > marker_row->n_columns) {
     free_table_row(parser->mem, marker_row);
     free_table_row(parser->mem, header_row);
     cmark_arena_pop();
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ static cmark_node *try_opening_table_header(cmark_syntax_extension *self,
   set_n_table_columns(parent_container, header_row->n_columns);
 
   uint8_t *alignments =
-      (uint8_t *)parser->mem->calloc(header_row->n_columns, sizeof(uint8_t));
+      (uint8_t *)parser->mem->calloc(marker_row->n_columns, sizeof(uint8_t));
   cmark_llist *it = marker_row->cells;
   for (i = 0; it; it = it->next, ++i) {
     node_cell *node = (node_cell *)it->data;