diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8cca44bf7..6c667f3c9 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
     "space-pen": "3.8.2",
     "stacktrace-parser": "0.1.1",
     "temp": "0.8.1",
-    "text-buffer": "6.3.7",
+    "text-buffer": "6.3.8",
     "theorist": "^1.0.2",
     "typescript-simple": "1.0.0",
     "underscore-plus": "^1.6.6",
diff --git a/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee b/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
index 8bbf722c2..641431d5a 100644
--- a/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
@@ -4627,13 +4627,14 @@ describe "TextEditor", ->
       expect(cursor4.getBufferPosition()).toEqual([3,0])
 
       editor.deleteToEndOfSubword()
-      expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toBe('Word ')
-      expect(buffer.lineForRow(1)).toBe('e, ')
-      expect(buffer.lineForRow(2)).toBe('')
+      expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toBe('')
+      expect(buffer.lineForRow(1)).toBe('Word ')
+      expect(buffer.lineForRow(2)).toBe('e,')
+      expect(buffer.lineForRow(3)).toBe(' ')
       expect(cursor1.getBufferPosition()).toEqual([0,0])
-      expect(cursor2.getBufferPosition()).toEqual([0,0])
-      expect(cursor3.getBufferPosition()).toEqual([1,2])
-      expect(cursor4.getBufferPosition()).toEqual([1,2])
+      expect(cursor2.getBufferPosition()).toEqual([1,0])
+      expect(cursor3.getBufferPosition()).toEqual([2,2])
+      expect(cursor4.getBufferPosition()).toEqual([3,0])
 
   describe 'gutters', ->
     describe 'the TextEditor constructor', ->
diff --git a/src/cursor.coffee b/src/cursor.coffee
index b6b07dbf2..61f12cc8c 100644
--- a/src/cursor.coffee
+++ b/src/cursor.coffee
@@ -403,9 +403,6 @@ class Cursor extends Model
   moveToPreviousSubwordBoundary: ->
     options = {wordRegex: @subwordRegExp(backwards: true)}
     if position = @getPreviousWordBoundaryBufferPosition(options)
-      # HACK: to fix going left on first line
-      if position.isEqual(@getBufferPosition())
-        position = new Point(position.row, 0)
       @setBufferPosition(position)
 
   # Public: Moves the cursor to the next subword boundary.
@@ -448,7 +445,7 @@ class Cursor extends Model
   getPreviousWordBoundaryBufferPosition: (options = {}) ->
     currentBufferPosition = @getBufferPosition()
     previousNonBlankRow = @editor.buffer.previousNonBlankRow(currentBufferPosition.row)
-    scanRange = [[previousNonBlankRow, 0], currentBufferPosition]
+    scanRange = [[previousNonBlankRow ? 0, 0], currentBufferPosition]
 
     beginningOfWordPosition = null
     @editor.backwardsScanInBufferRange (options.wordRegex ? @wordRegExp()), scanRange, ({range, stop}) ->
@@ -660,10 +657,14 @@ class Cursor extends Model
   # Returns a {RegExp}.
   subwordRegExp: (options={}) ->
     nonWordCharacters = atom.config.get('editor.nonWordCharacters', scope: @getScopeDescriptor())
-    segments = ["^[\t ]*$"]
-    segments.push("[A-Z]?[a-z]+")
-    segments.push("[A-Z]+(?![a-z])")
-    segments.push("\\d+")
+    segments = [
+      "^[\t ]+",
+      "[\t ]+$",
+      "[A-Z]?[a-z]+",
+      "[A-Z]+(?![a-z])",
+      "\\d+",
+      "_+"
+    ]
     if options.backwards
       segments.push("[#{_.escapeRegExp(nonWordCharacters)}]+\\s*")
     else