diff --git a/src/backend/access/hash/hashinsert.c b/src/backend/access/hash/hashinsert.c
index bd39333..4291fde 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/hash/hashinsert.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/hash/hashinsert.c
@@ -92,9 +92,9 @@ _hash_doinsert(Relation rel, IndexTuple itup)
 		_hash_chgbufaccess(rel, metabuf, HASH_READ, HASH_NOLOCK);
 
 		/*
-		 * If the previous iteration of this loop locked what is still the
-		 * correct target bucket, we are done.  Otherwise, drop any old lock
-		 * and lock what now appears to be the correct bucket.
+		 * If the previous iteration of this loop locked the primary page of
+		 * what is still the correct target bucket, we are done.  Otherwise,
+		 * drop any old lock before acquiring the new one.
 		 */
 		if (retry)
 		{
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ _hash_doinsert(Relation rel, IndexTuple itup)
 			_hash_relbuf(rel, buf);
 		}
 
-		/* Fetch the primary bucket page for the bucket */
+		/* Fetch and lock the primary bucket page for the target bucket */
 		buf = _hash_getbuf(rel, blkno, HASH_WRITE, LH_BUCKET_PAGE);
 
 		/*
@@ -132,15 +132,13 @@ _hash_doinsert(Relation rel, IndexTuple itup)
 	Assert(pageopaque->hasho_bucket == bucket);
 
 	/*
-	 * If there is any pending split, try to finish it before proceeding for
-	 * the insertion.  We try to finish the split for the insertion in old
-	 * bucket, as that will allow us to remove the tuples from old bucket and
-	 * reuse the space.  There is no such apparent benefit from finishing the
-	 * split during insertion in new bucket.
-	 *
-	 * In future, if we want to finish the splits during insertion in new
-	 * bucket, we must ensure the locking order such that old bucket is locked
-	 * before new bucket.
+	 * If this bucket is in the process of being split, try to finish the
+	 * split before inserting, because that might create room for the
+	 * insertion to proceed without allocating an additional overflow page.
+	 * It's only interesting to finish the split if we're trying to insert
+	 * into the bucket from which we're removing tuples (the "old" bucket),
+	 * not if we're trying to insert into the bucket into which tuples are
+	 * being moved (the "new" bucket).
 	 */
 	if (H_OLD_INCOMPLETE_SPLIT(pageopaque) && IsBufferCleanupOK(buf))
 	{
@@ -176,8 +174,10 @@ _hash_doinsert(Relation rel, IndexTuple itup)
 		{
 			/*
 			 * ovfl page exists; go get it.  if it doesn't have room, we'll
-			 * find out next pass through the loop test above.  Retain the
-			 * pin, if it is a primary bucket page.
+			 * find out next pass through the loop test above.  we always
+			 * release both the lock and pin if this is an overflow page, but
+			 * only the lock if this is the primary bucket page, since the pin
+			 * on the primary bucket must be retained throughout the scan.
 			 */
 			if (pageopaque->hasho_flag & LH_BUCKET_PAGE)
 				_hash_chgbufaccess(rel, buf, HASH_READ, HASH_NOLOCK);
@@ -217,8 +217,9 @@ _hash_doinsert(Relation rel, IndexTuple itup)
 	(void) _hash_pgaddtup(rel, buf, itemsz, itup);
 
 	/*
-	 * write and release the modified page and ensure to release the pin on
-	 * primary page.
+	 * write and release the modified page.  if the page we modified was an
+	 * overflow page, we also need to separately drop the pin we retained on
+	 * the primary bucket page.
 	 */
 	_hash_wrtbuf(rel, buf);
 	if (buf != bucket_buf)
diff --git a/src/backend/access/hash/hashpage.c b/src/backend/access/hash/hashpage.c
index 36cacc8..106ffca 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/hash/hashpage.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/hash/hashpage.c
@@ -96,10 +96,10 @@ _hash_getbuf(Relation rel, BlockNumber blkno, int access, int flags)
 }
 
 /*
- * _hash_getbuf_with_condlock_cleanup() -- as above, but get the buffer for write.
+ * _hash_getbuf_with_condlock_cleanup() -- Try to get a buffer for cleanup.
  *
- *		We try to take the conditional cleanup lock and if we get it then
- *		return the buffer, else return InvalidBuffer.
+ *		We read the page and try to acquire a cleanup lock.  If we get it,
+ *		we return the buffer; otherwise, we return InvalidBuffer.
  */
 Buffer
 _hash_getbuf_with_condlock_cleanup(Relation rel, BlockNumber blkno, int flags)