Something like this? It is kind-of long, but it works.
print("<table>\n");
$ii=1;
while($row=mysql_fetch_row($result)){
//if your content is located in the second field,
//use row[1];
$content=$row[1];
if($ii==1){
print("<tr>\n");
}
print("<td>$content</td>\n");
if($ii==2){
print("</tr>\n");
$ii=1;
}else{
$ii++;
}
}
//print empty cell if odd number of results
if($ii==2){
print("<td> </td>\n");
print("</tr>\n");
}
print("</table>\n");