[table/tabular problem] not pdftex specific problem - but please help me :-)

[ti]

Hi,

I want to make a table using the tabular environment:

\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|...}
\centering
% starting centered lines
text1 &
text2 &
text3 &
...
textn \\
% end centered lines
% now left aligned

\end{tabular}
\end{table}

The first 2 row´s should show centered text and the rest should be left aligned,
that´s why I´m using {|l|...} above!

But using the \centering - command does not have any effect!?!
The center environment does not work also!

Please help me - maybe it´s a stupid question!

Best regards,
Thomas