OHhonda99

I have a '99 accord LX that just recently started having issues. Most of the time the car will start like it should, but about 2-3 times a week it will randomly just not turn over. It tries to start but it won't run. It smells of gas while I try to crank it as well so I suspect the car is flooding, but I'm not sure why.
Fuel pump is good and turning on like it should, and I just had that replaced two years ago. Battery is fine as well. My dad was able to get under the hood and mess with the throttle while trying to turn the key and we got it started a few times that way but just this week it won't budge. It's been sitting in the driveway now since yesterday morning. I've also noticed that if I can get it started the first time I use it, then it's good all day. It's only when I try to run it for that very first time in the morning or afternoon. Could be a coincidence but this has been true for four weeks now.
My car ran perfectly normal for over two weeks, started with no issues so I thought the problem was gone or that it was a few isolated incidents, but this week it did it again and I haven't ran it since.
Any ideas what it could be? I've seen online anywhere from sensors, fuel injectors, to many other things. I'm not too savvy when it comes to cars, it goes in the shop next week but in the meantime I have to wait around. I'm wondering if maybe the throttle could go bad since my dad could push down on it while starting and it was able to start that way although it was a rough start and took a few tries. Hoping this isn't a very costly fix!