one jack on laptop..
probably a 4pole 3.5mm with combined mic and headphone. this would be typical.
two jacks on soundcard...
sounds like a standard 3.5mm 3pole jack for headphone and another jack for microphone. again, typical.
if i understand you correctly, you have headphones connected to one jack (lets say the laptop) and stuidio monitors connected up to the other (say the usb soundcard) but want both to play at the same time?
windows by default does not allow two devices to play at the same time. nowhere in the settings will it allow this unless a program specifically bypasses this and allows it. using a program like virtual audio cable (or the various free variants of this program.. google search for alternatives) should give...