diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/utils.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/utils.py
index ac38a0097d..fffb0d75d4 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/utils.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/utils.py
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ class PreProcessor(object):
         numeric_chapters = r".?(\d+\.?|(CHAPTER\s*([\dA-Z\-\'\"\?\.!#,]+\s*){1,10}))\s*"
         uppercase_chapters = r"\s*.?([A-Z#]+(\s|-){0,3}){1,5}\s*"
         numeric_titles = r".?(\d+\.?\s+([\d\w-]+\:?\'?-?\s?){0,5})\s*"
-        emphasized_lines = r"<b[^>]*>\s*(<span[^>]*>)?\s*(\s*(?=[\w#\-*\s]+<)([\w#-*]+\s*){1,5}\s*)(</span>)?\s*</b>"
+        emphasized_lines = r"<b[^>]*>\s*(<span[^>]*>)?\s*(?!([*#•]+\s*)+)(\s*(?=[\w#\-*\s]+<)([\w#-*]+\s*){1,5}\s*)(</span>)?\s*</b>"
 
         full_chapter_line = chapter_line_open+chapter_header_open+typical_chapters+chapter_header_close+chapter_line_close
         n_lookahead = re.sub("(ou|in|cha)", "lookahead_", full_chapter_line)
@@ -308,10 +308,10 @@ class PreProcessor(object):
         html = re.sub(u'\xad\s*(</span>\s*(</[iubp]>\s*<[iubp][^>]*>\s*)?<span[^>]*>|</[iubp]>\s*<[iubp][^>]*>)?\s*', '', html)
 
         # If still no sections after unwrapping mark split points on lines with no punctuation
-        if self.html_preprocess_sections < 10:
+        if self.html_preprocess_sections < 5:
             self.log("Looking for more split points based on punctuation,"
                     " currently have " + unicode(self.html_preprocess_sections))
-            chapdetect3 = re.compile(r'<(?P<styles>(p|div)[^>]*)>\s*(?P<section>(<span[^>]*>)?\s*(<[ibu][^>]*>){0,2}\s*(<span[^>]*>)?\s*(<[ibu][^>]*>){0,2}\s*(<span[^>]*>)?\s*.?(?=[a-z#\-*\s]+<)([a-z#-*]+\s*){1,5}\s*\s*(</span>)?(</[ibu]>){0,2}\s*(</span>)?\s*(</[ibu]>){0,2}\s*(</span>)?\s*</(p|div)>)', re.IGNORECASE)
+            chapdetect3 = re.compile(r'<(?P<styles>(p|div)[^>]*)>\s*(?P<section>(<span[^>]*>)?\s*(?!([*#•]+\s*)+)(<[ibu][^>]*>){0,2}\s*(<span[^>]*>)?\s*(<[ibu][^>]*>){0,2}\s*(<span[^>]*>)?\s*.?(?=[a-z#\-*\s]+<)([a-z#-*]+\s*){1,5}\s*\s*(</span>)?(</[ibu]>){0,2}\s*(</span>)?\s*(</[ibu]>){0,2}\s*(</span>)?\s*</(p|div)>)', re.IGNORECASE)
             html = chapdetect3.sub(self.chapter_break, html)
         # search for places where a first or second level heading is immediately followed by another
         # top level heading.  demote the second heading to h3 to prevent splitting between chapter