diff --git a/commands/sql/sql.drush.inc b/commands/sql/sql.drush.inc
index 11644a9..ad86c51 100644
--- a/commands/sql/sql.drush.inc
+++ b/commands/sql/sql.drush.inc
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ function sql_drush_command() {
   $items['sql-dump'] = array(
     'callback' => 'drush_sql_dump_execute',
     'description' => 'Exports the Drupal DB as SQL using mysqldump or equivalent.',
-    'bootstrap' => DRUSH_BOOTSTRAP_DRUPAL_CONFIGURATION,
+    'bootstrap' => DRUSH_BOOTSTRAP_DRUPAL_DATABASE,
     'examples' => array(
       'drush sql-dump --result-file=../18.sql' => 'Save SQL dump to the directory above Drupal root.',
       'drush sql-dump --skip-tables-key=common' => 'Skip standard tables. @see example.drushrc.com',
@@ -402,29 +402,90 @@ function drush_sql_build_dump_command($table_selection, $db_spec = NULL) {
  *   found, or an empty array if there were no matches.
  */
 function _drush_sql_get_table_list($option_name) {
+  $tables = array();
   foreach(array('' => 'cli', 'target-,,source-' => NULL) as $prefix_list => $context) {
     foreach(explode(',',$prefix_list) as $prefix) {
       $key_list = drush_get_option($prefix . $option_name . '-key', NULL, $context);
       foreach(explode(',', $key_list) as $key) {
         $all_tables = drush_get_option($option_name, array());
-        if (array_key_exists($key, $all_tables)) {
-          return $all_tables[$key];
+        if (isset($all_tables[$key])) {
+          $tables = $all_tables[$key];
+          break 3;
         }
         if ($option_name != 'tables') {
           $all_tables = drush_get_option('tables', array());
-          if (array_key_exists($key, $all_tables)) {
-            return $all_tables[$key];
+          if (isset($all_tables[$key])) {
+            $tables = $all_tables[$key];
+            break 3;
           }
         }
       }
       $table_list = drush_get_option($prefix . $option_name . '-list', NULL, $context);
-      if (isset($table_list)) {
-        return empty($table_list) ? array() : explode(',', $table_list);
+      if (!empty($table_list)) {
+        $tables = explode(',', $table_list);
       }
     }
   }
 
-  return array();
+
+  // Get the existing table names contained in the current database.
+  $db_tables = _drush_sql_get_db_table_list();
+
+  // Table name expansion based on * wildcard.
+  $expanded_db_tables = array();
+  foreach ($tables as $k => $table) {
+    // Only deal with table names containing a wildcard.
+    if (strpos($table, '*') !== FALSE) {
+      $pattern = '/^' . preg_quote(str_replace('*', '.*', $table)) . '$/i';
+
+      // Merge those existing tables which match the pattern with the rest of
+      // the expanded table names.
+      $expanded_db_tables += preg_grep($pattern, $db_tables);
+      // Drop the wildcard table, this is not a valid table name.
+      unset($tables[$k]);
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Ensure all the tables actually exist in the database.
+  foreach ($tables as $k => $table) {
+    if (!in_array($table, $db_tables)) {
+      unset($tables[$k]);
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Merge expanded and validated table names.
+  $tables += $expanded_db_tables;
+
+  // Make sure each table name is unique and sort them.
+  $tables = array_unique($tables);
+  sort($tables);
+
+  return $tables;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Extract the name of all existing tables in the current database.
+ *
+ * @return array
+ *   A list of table names which exist in the database.
+ */
+function _drush_sql_get_db_table_list() {
+  static $db_tables = array();
+
+  if (!empty($db_tables)) {
+    return $db_tables;
+  }
+
+  $query = 'SHOW TABLES';
+  if ($scheme == 'pgsql') {
+    $query = "SELECT tablename FROM pg_tables WHERE schemaname='public';";
+  }
+  $results = db_query($query);
+  while ($db_table = drush_db_fetch_object($results)) {
+    $db_tables[] = current((array)$db_table);
+  }
+
+  return $db_tables;
 }
 
 /**