diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 77910525..f557e9f3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -140,8 +140,25 @@ default to left.
         | Texas | TX     | Austin  |
         | Maine | ME     | Augusta |
 
-Currently we assume there are always spaces around interior vertical
-bars. It isn't clear what the expectation is.
+Currently we assume there are always spaces around interior vertical unless
+there are exterior bars.
+
+However in order to be more GFM compatible the `gfm_tables: true` option
+can be used to interpret only interior vertical bars as a table if a seperation
+line is given, therefor
+
+         Language|Rating
+         --------|------
+         Elixir  | awesome
+
+is a table (iff `gfm_tables: true`) while
+
+         Language|Rating
+         Elixir  | awesome
+
+never is.
+ 
+
 
 ### Adding HTML attributes with the IAL extension
 
diff --git a/lib/earmark.ex b/lib/earmark.ex
index 608aada7..f04e656e 100644
--- a/lib/earmark.ex
+++ b/lib/earmark.ex
@@ -113,8 +113,25 @@ defmodule Earmark do
           | Texas | TX     | Austin  |
           | Maine | ME     | Augusta |
 
-  Currently we assume there are always spaces around interior vertical
-  bars. It isn't clear what the expectation is.
+  Currently we assume there are always spaces around interior vertical unless
+  there are exterior bars.
+
+  However in order to be more GFM compatible the `gfm_tables: true` option
+  can be used to interpret only interior vertical bars as a table if a seperation
+  line is given, therefor
+
+           Language|Rating
+           --------|------
+           Elixir  | awesome
+
+  is a table (iff `gfm_tables: true`) while
+
+           Language|Rating
+           Elixir  | awesome
+
+  never is.
+   
+  
 
   ### Adding HTML attributes with the IAL extension
 
diff --git a/lib/earmark/line.ex b/lib/earmark/line.ex
index d1df6653..d7b439ba 100644
--- a/lib/earmark/line.ex
+++ b/lib/earmark/line.ex
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ defmodule Earmark.Line do
 
   defmodule TableLine  do
     @moduledoc false
-    defstruct(lnb: 0, line: "", content: "", columns: 0, inside_code: false)
+    defstruct(lnb: 0, line: "", content: "", columns: 0, inside_code: false, is_header: false, needs_header: false)
   end
 
   defmodule Ial  do
diff --git a/lib/earmark/line_scanner.ex b/lib/earmark/line_scanner.ex
index bcd77e58..5931e000 100644
--- a/lib/earmark/line_scanner.ex
+++ b/lib/earmark/line_scanner.ex
@@ -184,11 +184,15 @@ defmodule Earmark.LineScanner do
           |> String.trim("|")
 
         columns = split_table_columns(body)
-        %Line.TableLine{content: line, columns: columns}
+        %Line.TableLine{content: line, columns: columns, is_header: _determine_if_header(columns)}
 
       line =~ ~r/ \s \| \s /x ->
         columns = split_table_columns(line)
-        %Line.TableLine{content: line, columns: columns}
+        %Line.TableLine{content: line, columns: columns, is_header: _determine_if_header(columns)}
+
+      line =~ ~r/ \| /x && options.gfm_tables ->
+        columns = split_table_columns(line)
+        %Line.TableLine{content: line, columns: columns, is_header: _determine_if_header(columns), needs_header: true}
 
       match = Regex.run(~r/^(=|-)+\s*$/, line) ->
         [_, type] = match
@@ -229,6 +233,11 @@ defmodule Earmark.LineScanner do
               |> Enum.into(MapSet.new())
   defp block_tag?(tag), do: MapSet.member?(@block_tags, tag)
 
+  @column_rgx ~r{\A[\s|:-]+\z}
+  defp _determine_if_header(columns) do
+    columns
+    |> Enum.all?(fn col -> Regex.run(@column_rgx, col) end)
+  end
   defp split_table_columns(line) do
     line
     |> String.split(~r{(?<!\\)\|})
diff --git a/lib/earmark/options.ex b/lib/earmark/options.ex
index 4021cac6..fdb89f17 100644
--- a/lib/earmark/options.ex
+++ b/lib/earmark/options.ex
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ defmodule Earmark.Options do
   defstruct renderer: Earmark.HtmlRenderer,
             # Inline style options
             gfm: true,
+            gfm_tables: false,
             breaks: false,
             pedantic: false,
             smartypants: true,
diff --git a/lib/earmark/parser.ex b/lib/earmark/parser.ex
index ee0d6c27..e6fc1933 100644
--- a/lib/earmark/parser.ex
+++ b/lib/earmark/parser.ex
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ defmodule Earmark.Parser do
   # Table #
   #########
 
-  defp _parse( lines = [ %Line.TableLine{columns: cols1, lnb: lnb1},
+  defp _parse( lines = [ %Line.TableLine{columns: cols1, lnb: lnb1, needs_header: false},
                         %Line.TableLine{columns: cols2}
                       | _rest
                       ], result, options)
@@ -138,6 +138,17 @@ defmodule Earmark.Parser do
     _parse(rest, [ table1 | result ], options)
   end
 
+  defp _parse( lines = [ %Line.TableLine{columns: cols1, lnb: lnb1, needs_header: true},
+                        %Line.TableLine{columns: cols2, is_header: true}
+                      | _rest
+                      ], result, options)
+  when length(cols1) == length(cols2)
+  do
+    columns = length(cols1)
+    { table, rest } = read_table(lines, columns, Block.Table.new_for_columns(columns))
+    table1          = %{table | lnb: lnb1}
+    _parse(rest, [ table1 | result ], options)
+  end
   #############
   # Paragraph #
   #############
@@ -390,6 +401,7 @@ defmodule Earmark.Parser do
   # Read in a table (consecutive TableLines with
   # the same number of columns)
 
+  defp read_table(lines, col_count, into_table)
   defp read_table([ %Line.TableLine{columns: cols} | rest ],
                     col_count,
                     table = %Block.Table{})
@@ -397,7 +409,6 @@ defmodule Earmark.Parser do
   do
     read_table(rest, col_count, update_in(table.rows, &[ cols | &1 ]))
   end
-
   defp read_table( rest, col_count, %Block.Table{rows: rows}) do
     rows  = Enum.reverse(rows)
     table = Block.Table.new_for_columns(col_count)
diff --git a/test/acceptance/html/table_test.exs b/test/acceptance/html/table_test.exs
index 1161abb1..dc29061f 100644
--- a/test/acceptance/html/table_test.exs
+++ b/test/acceptance/html/table_test.exs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 defmodule Acceptance.Html.TableTest do
   use ExUnit.Case, async: true
 
-  import Support.Helpers, only: [as_html: 1]
+  import Support.Helpers, only: [as_html: 1, as_html: 2]
   
   describe "complex rendering inside tables:" do 
 
@@ -58,6 +58,31 @@ defmodule Acceptance.Html.TableTest do
       assert as_html(markdown) == {:ok, html, messages}
     end
   end
+
+  describe "GFM Tables" do
+    test "do not need spaces around mid `\|`" do
+      markdown = "a|b\n-|-\nd|e\n"
+      html     = "<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"text-align: left\">a</th><th style=\"text-align: left\">b</th>\n</tr>\n</thead>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: left\">d</td><td style=\"text-align: left\">e</td>\n</tr>\n</table>\n" 
+      messages = []
+
+      assert as_html(markdown, gfm_tables: true) == {:ok, html, messages}
+    end
+
+    test "do not need spaces around mid `\|` but w/o gfm_tables this is no good" do
+      markdown = "a|b\n-|-\nd|e\n"
+      html     = "<p>a|b\n-|-\nd|e</p>\n"
+      messages = []
+
+      assert as_html(markdown, gfm_tables: false) == {:ok, html, messages}
+    end
+    test "however a header line needs to be used" do
+      markdown = "a|b\nd|e\n"
+      html     = "<p>a|b\nd|e</p>\n"
+      messages = []
+
+      assert as_html(markdown, gfm_tables: true) == {:ok, html, messages}
+    end
+  end
 end
 
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
diff --git a/test/support/html1_helpers.ex b/test/support/html1_helpers.ex
index e61913ce..937fa783 100644
--- a/test/support/html1_helpers.ex
+++ b/test/support/html1_helpers.ex
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ defmodule Support.Html1Helpers do
   end
 
 
-  def construct(constructions) do
+  def construct(constructions, indent \\ 2) do
     result =
-    _construct(constructions, 0, []) |> IO.iodata_to_binary
+    _construct(constructions, 0, [], indent) |> IO.iodata_to_binary
     if System.get_env("DEBUG") do
       IO.inspect({:constructed, result})
     end
@@ -34,71 +34,71 @@ defmodule Support.Html1Helpers do
     {:th, ~s{style="text-align: #{style};"}, content}
   end
 
-  defp _construct(constructions, indent, open)
-  defp _construct([], _indent, []), do: []
-  defp _construct([], indent, [open|rest]) do
-    [_indent(indent - 2), "</", to_string(open), ">\n", _construct([], indent - 2, rest) ]
+  defp _construct(constructions, indent, open, iby)
+  defp _construct([], _indent, [], _iby), do: []
+  defp _construct([], indent, [open|rest], iby) do
+    [_indent(indent - iby), "</", to_string(open), ">\n", _construct([], indent - iby, rest, iby) ]
   end
-  defp _construct([:POP|rest], indent, [tag|rest1]) do
-    [_indent(indent-2), "</", to_string(tag), ">\n", _construct(rest, indent - 2, rest1)]
+  defp _construct([:POP|rest], indent, [tag|rest1], iby) do
+    [_indent(indent-iby), "</", to_string(tag), ">\n", _construct(rest, indent - iby, rest1, iby)]
   end
-  defp _construct(head, indent, open) when is_tuple(head) do
-    _construct([head], indent, open)
+  defp _construct(head, indent, open, iby) when is_tuple(head) do
+    _construct([head], indent, open, iby)
   end
-  defp _construct([:br | rest], indent, open) do
-    _void_tag("<br />\n", rest, indent, open)
+  defp _construct([:br | rest], indent, open, iby) do
+    _void_tag("<br />\n", rest, indent, open, iby)
   end
-  defp _construct([:hr | rest], indent, open) do
-    _void_tag("<hr />\n", rest, indent, open)
+  defp _construct([:hr | rest], indent, open, iby) do
+    _void_tag("<hr />\n", rest, indent, open, iby)
   end
-  defp _construct([:wbr | rest], indent, open) do
-    _void_tag("<wbr />\n", rest, indent, open)
+  defp _construct([:wbr | rest], indent, open, iby) do
+    _void_tag("<wbr />\n", rest, indent, open, iby)
   end
-  defp _construct([{:area, atts} | rest], indent, open) do
-    _void_tag_with_atts("<area ", atts, rest, indent, open)
+  defp _construct([{:area, atts} | rest], indent, open, iby) do
+    _void_tag_with_atts("<area ", atts, rest, indent, open, iby)
   end
-  defp _construct([{:hr, atts} | rest], indent, open) do
-    _void_tag_with_atts("<hr ", atts, rest, indent, open)
+  defp _construct([{:hr, atts} | rest], indent, open, iby) do
+    _void_tag_with_atts("<hr ", atts, rest, indent, open, iby)
   end
-  defp _construct([{:img, atts} | rest], indent, open) do
-    _void_tag_with_atts("<img ", atts, rest, indent, open)
+  defp _construct([{:img, atts} | rest], indent, open, iby) do
+    _void_tag_with_atts("<img ", atts, rest, indent, open, iby)
   end
-  defp _construct([tag | rest], indent, open) when is_atom(tag) do
-    [_indent(indent), "<", to_string(tag), ">", "\n", _construct(rest, indent + 2, [tag | open])]
+  defp _construct([tag | rest], indent, open, iby) when is_atom(tag) do
+    [_indent(indent), "<", to_string(tag), ">", "\n", _construct(rest, indent + iby, [tag | open], iby)]
   end
-  defp _construct([content|rest], indent, open) when is_binary(content) do
-    [_indent(indent), content, "\n", _construct(rest, indent, open)]
+  defp _construct([content|rest], indent, open, iby) when is_binary(content) do
+    [_indent(indent), content, "\n", _construct(rest, indent, open, iby)]
   end
-  defp _construct([{tag, content}|rest], indent, open) when is_tuple(content), do: _construct([{tag, nil, content}|rest], indent, open)
-  defp _construct([{tag, content}|rest], indent, open) when is_list(content), do: _construct([{tag, nil, content}|rest], indent, open)
-  defp _construct([{tag, atts}|rest], indent, open) do
-    [_indent(indent), "<", to_string(tag), " ", atts, ">", "\n", _construct(rest, indent + 2, [tag | open])]
+  defp _construct([{tag, content}|rest], indent, open, iby) when is_tuple(content), do: _construct([{tag, nil, content}|rest], indent, open, iby)
+  defp _construct([{tag, content}|rest], indent, open, iby) when is_list(content), do: _construct([{tag, nil, content}|rest], indent, open, iby)
+  defp _construct([{tag, atts}|rest], indent, open, iby) do
+    [_indent(indent), "<", to_string(tag), " ", atts, ">", "\n", _construct(rest, indent + iby, [tag | open], iby)]
   end
-  defp _construct([{tag, atts, content}|rest], indent, open) when is_binary(content) do
-    _construct([{tag, atts, [content]}|rest], indent, open)
+  defp _construct([{tag, atts, content}|rest], indent, open, iby) when is_binary(content) do
+    _construct([{tag, atts, [content]}|rest], indent, open, iby)
   end
-  defp _construct([{tag, nil, content}|rest], indent, open) do
+  defp _construct([{tag, nil, content}|rest], indent, open, iby) do
     [_indent(indent), "<", to_string(tag), ">",
      "\n",
-     _construct(content, indent + 2, []),
+     _construct(content, indent + iby, [], iby),
      _indent(indent), "</", to_string(tag), ">\n",
-     _construct(rest, indent, open)]
+     _construct(rest, indent, open, iby)]
   end
-  defp _construct([{tag, atts, content}|rest], indent, open) do
+  defp _construct([{tag, atts, content}|rest], indent, open, iby) do
     [_indent(indent), "<", to_string(tag), " ", atts, ">",
      "\n",
-     _construct(content, indent + 2, []),
+     _construct(content, indent + iby, [], iby),
      _indent(indent), "</", to_string(tag), ">\n",
-     _construct(rest, indent, open)]
+     _construct(rest, indent, open, iby)]
   end
 
   defp _indent(n), do: Stream.cycle([" "]) |> Enum.take(n)
 
-  defp _void_tag( tag, rest, indent, open) do
-    [_indent(indent), tag, _construct(rest, indent, open)]
+  defp _void_tag( tag, rest, indent, open, iby) do
+    [_indent(indent), tag, _construct(rest, indent, open, iby)]
   end
 
-  defp _void_tag_with_atts(tag, atts, rest, indent, open) do
-    [_indent(indent), tag, atts, " />", "\n", _construct(rest, indent, open)]
+  defp _void_tag_with_atts(tag, atts, rest, indent, open, iby) do
+    [_indent(indent), tag, atts, " />", "\n", _construct(rest, indent, open, iby)]
   end
 end