In this paper we prove that for sufficiently large parameters the standard map has a unique measure of maximal entropy (m.m.e.). Moreover, we prove: the m.m.e. is Bernoulli, and the periodic points with Lyapunov exponents bounded away from zero equidistribute with respect to the m.m.e. We prove some estimates regarding the Hausdorff dimension of the m.m.e. and about the density of the support of the measure on the manifold. For a generic large parameter, we prove that the support of the m.m.e. has Hausdorff dimension 2. We also obtain the C 2 -robustness of several of these properties. Contents 1 Introduction 2 Preliminaries 3 Estimates on invariant manifolds for measures with large exponents 4 Homoclinic relation for measures with large exponents 5 Proof of Theorem A 6 Growth and equidistribution of periodic points: proof of Theorem B 7 Further properties of the m.m.e.: proof of Theorems C and D Bibliography * D.O. was supported by the projects ANR BEKAM : ANR-15-CE40-0001 and ERC project NUHGD.