The uniaxial fracture properties of dogbone specimens are often used to estimate the performance of polymers in other loading situations, e.g. composite matrices. Although triaxial stress states are likely to affect the fracture behavior, this effect is difficult to quantify. In the present study, a method previously used for rubbers (the poker-chip method) was used to subject epoxies to a triaxial tension stress field. The method was successfully used and its validity supported by stress analysis and fractography. Results showed the fracture behavior of the poker-chip specimen to be dramatically different compared to the uniaxial case. A general decrease in strain to failure was observed for the triaxial test data. Yield criteria, shown to predict yielding in epoxies for biaxial stress states, suggest some other mechanism to control failure of the poker-chip specimen