I'm sure that this has been answered in some form, but a pretty thorough search of the archives has me more confused about where to start to look for the problem.

Yesterday the car started sputtering when I start off from a stop. It starts fine, although its rough for a couple of seconds (has been like that for a while), and then idles smoothly. It is acting like it isn't getting any gas, and then, at about 1500 rpm, it gets through it and acts normally. This doesn't happen every time, about half the time.

If someone can point me to the most likely cause to start with, I'd really appreciate it.

Incidentally, the car hasn't been tuned up in about 9 months, but its only been 2,500 miles since the tune-up. The car now has 200,900 miles on it.

Thanks very much in advance,

Craig