Well it's going and it was numptyism on my part.

First of all choke open / closed is just a terminology problem it was in the right position even if I called it the wrong thing.

The issue was that being a tiny engine it's easy to flood but also starting it it seems to want to be pumped repeatedly so that I'm pulling the starter again while the engine is still spinning from the first pull. Do that a few times and it runs like a goodun.