Starts and dies for first three times

so "make sure the choke works right"
i'm not 100% sure what you guys mean.
when i pull the lever inside it definitely moves the choke open and closed based on the amount of pull i have inside. in that sense, it "works right" but its not an automatic choke that would set itself when i push the pedal to the floor and let it go on the first start like it says in the manual. also, giving it a bit of gas when its as cold as it is (like it says in the manual)

and yeah...it was modified like i said in my first post. it sucks and I want to bring it back up to the stock setup, but i can't control the actions of previous owners sadly.