Need a little help about HTML tables

I am not very good at HTML but I know only basic things.

I have created a table to show 2 links with short description on my blog, when I see the preview in browser it is looking perfectly - see below



But after putting that code on the site it is showing extra gap between the lines of first ad (on left) - see below



Here is the code I have

<style type="text/css">
<!--
.style1 {
	font-family: arial;
	font-size: 11px;
	font-weight: bold;
}
.style2 {
	font-size: 11px;
	font-family: arial;
	color: #999999;
}
a:link {
	color: #000000;
	text-decoration: none;
}
a:visited {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #000000;
}
a:hover {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #cc0000;
}
a:active {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #cc0000;
}
-->
</style>
<table width="550" border="0">
  <tr>
    <td width="275" valign="top"><p><span class="style1"><a href="http://www.decentbanners.com/" target="_blank">Professional Banner Design Services</a><br>
      </span><span class="style2">High quality professional banner ad designs <br>
      from $15.
      Fast turnaround &amp; satisfaction guaranteed.</span><span class="style1"><br>
      </span></p>    </td>
    <td width="275" valign="top"><span class="style1"><a href="http://www.dezineweblog.com/advertise/">Advertise Your Site Here </a><br>
    </span><span class="style2">Promote your site to thousands of visotors at very affordable prices and gain more exposure. </span></td>
  </tr>
</table>

Code (markup):

Can anyone please try to help me with this?

 

make a <div> and create a CSS padding to fix it on that part

 

First Table (Professional banner design) after this headline .. see there is space when u write other text...
and 2nd table is ok ,becoz there is no space after headline! so it would be a prob on it !!!

 

Problem fixed.

I was just playing with <p> and <br /> and somehow I fixed it myself

You can see how smooth it is appearing on my blog here

Just for others to know how it got fixed I am pasting the code below

<style type="text/css">
<!--
.style1 {
	font-family: arial;
	font-size: 11px;
	font-weight: bold;
}
.style2 {
	font-size: 11px;
	font-family: arial;
	color: #999999;
}
a:link {
	color: #000000;
	text-decoration: none;
}
a:visited {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #000000;
}
a:hover {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #cc0000;
}
a:active {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #cc0000;
}
-->
</style>
<table width="550" border="0">
<tr>
<td width="275" valign="top"><span class="style1"><a href="http://www.decentbanners.com/" onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/decentbannerslink');" target="_blank">Professional Banner Design Services</a><br/></span>
<span class="style2">High quality professional banner ad designs from $15. Fast turnaround &amp; satisfaction guaranteed.</span>
</td>

<td width="275" valign="top"><span class="style1"><a href="http://www.dezineweblog.com/advertise/" onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/advertiseherelink');">Advertise Your Site Here</a><br/></span>
<span class="style2">Promote your site to thousands of visotors at very affordable prices and gain more exposure.</span>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Code (markup):