Multiple Rows in a <table> using wp_query

Question

I am displaying posts in a grid (4 posts wide by 2 posts high). I am using a table. In order to get the content to display on the second row, I am using two wp_queries (one on each row) because I can't figure out how to make the second row while being inside the loop.

I'm trying to figure out if I can achieve this same layout with a single query instead of having to do two of them. How could I achieve this?

Here is the part of my code I'm referring too:

<table>
        <tr>
        <?php
            $args = array (
                posts_per_page => 4,
                post_type => 'post',
                orderby => 'meta_value_number',
                meta_key => 'episode',
                order => 'ASC',
                post_status => array('publish, future')
                );
            // The Query
            $query = new WP_Query( $args );

            // The Loop
            if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
                while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
                    $query->the_post(); 
                    $pID = $post->ID ?>
                <td>
                    <form id="episode-<?php echo $pID; ?>" name="episode-<?php echo $pID; ?>" method="post" action="">
                        <div class="gallery-thumb">
                            <a onclick="document.getElementById('episode-<?php echo $pID; ?>').submit();"><?php the_post_thumbnail(); ?></a>    
                        </div>
                        <input type="hidden" name="pID" value="<?php echo $pID; ?>" />
                    </form>
                    <div class="gallery-text">
                        Episode <?php the_field('episode'); ?><br />
                        "<?php the_title(); ?>"<br />
                        <?php 
                        if (get_post_status() == 'publish') {
                            echo get_the_time('M d, Y');
                        } else {
                            echo 'Premieres '; echo get_the_time('M d');
                            }
                        ?>
                    </div>
                </td>   
            <?  }
            } else {
                // no posts found
            }
            /* Restore original Post Data */
            wp_reset_postdata();
            ?>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <?php
            $args = array (
                posts_per_page => 4,
                offset => 4,
                post_type => 'post',
                orderby => 'meta_value_number',
                meta_key => 'episode',
                order => 'ASC',
                post_status => array('publish, future')
                );
            // The Query
            $query = new WP_Query( $args );

            // The Loop
            if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
                while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
                    $query->the_post(); 
                    $pID = $post->ID?>
                <td>
                    <form id="episode-<?php echo $pID; ?>" name="episode-<?php echo $pID; ?>" method="post" action="">
                        <div class="gallery-thumb">
                            <a onclick="document.getElementById('episode-<?php echo $pID; ?>').submit();"><?php the_post_thumbnail(); ?></a>    
                        </div>
                        <input type="hidden" name="pID" value="<?php echo $pID; ?>" />
                    </form>
                    <div class="gallery-text">
                        Episode <?php the_field('episode'); ?><br />
                        "<?php the_title(); ?>"<br />
                        <?php 
                        if (get_post_status() == 'publish') {
                            echo get_the_time('M d, Y');
                        } else {
                            echo 'Premieres '; echo get_the_time('M d');
                            }
                        ?>
                    </div>
                </td>   
            <?  }
            } else {
                // no posts found
            }
            /* Restore original Post Data */
            wp_reset_postdata();
            ?>

        </tr>
    </table>

Answer 1

Get all of your posts in one query, then count the iterations of your loop.

Pseudo-code follows.

if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
$i = 0;
                while ( $query->have_posts() ) {

// If $i is 5 (5th post), end one row and start the next
if (++$i == 5) {
echo '</tr><tr>';
}
// the rest of your loop output