Tables were never created to be used as layout elements.
Tables are slower to load.
Tables are not as flexible as using CSS.
Tables are pre-laid out grids which cannot be changed (cells cannot be moved).
You cannot carry over content from one cell to the next without added effort.
The guy who created the technique says "The web is ruined and I ruined it" by creating this method.
Tables for layout is stupid.
(See the articles about those two statements under Howtos in the HTML/CSS section)